


Slowly but Surely

by Banshi13



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Boys In Love, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, getting closer, getting together?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-08-28 10:02:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 50,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16721247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banshi13/pseuds/Banshi13
Summary: “You text my daughter to find out what I got you!?”Danny turned the phone towards Steve so that he could plainly see a screencap of the text his partner had sent to Grace.  “And you tried to bribe her with Taylor Swift tickets?”“Not anymore,” Steve grumbled, looking slightly betrayed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _Author’s Note: _So the incredibly talented, devoted, and unbelievably disciplined Stellarmeadow posted a photo of a shirt (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015G0F25Q/ref=strm_sub_193_nad_4_1) that Danny might get Steve, a shirt which is so perfect for Steve that I demand to know why we have not yet seen him in it on the show. I decided to turn this into a fluffy, adorable, heartwarming Christmas fic (one of many, I am sure, as I love this time of year), and while this will be one of my shorter fictions, I hope you enjoy it all the same. Merry Christmas to everyone (I don’t care if it’s a month early either)!__
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work._

**Hawaii Five-0**

"A new beach towel."

"No."

"Gift card to the firing range."

"We go to HPD's firing range and you steal the Navy's training range with Joe whenever you have the chance, so no." Danny leaned back in his office chair and propped his feet up on his desk, crossing them at the ankle and slotting his fingers together comfortably on his stomach. Steve had been trying to guess what Danny had gotten him for Christmas for the better part of the day. So far, his partner was zero for…well, Danny had stopped counting sometime around lunch.

"Golf club?"

"What, so that you can beat me with it? No, you putz."

"Danny!" It was so funny when Steve whined. Danny often times compared him to Charlie when he did, and this time was no exception. "Babe, I have two kids. The puppy eyes, the whining, the pleading isn't going to get you anywhere. You'll just have to wait until Christmas." He watched as Steve planted his hands on his hips and breathed harshly through his nose. "What if I tell you what I got you?"

"Nope."

"…Danny, you're forcing me to consider drastic measures."

"You're so impatient, you're like a child! Jeez, Steve, Charlie and Grace aren't nearly as bad as you are! I'll give your present to you on Christmas Day and you'll find out then!" He watched as Steve pulled out his phone and began tapping away. "Now what are you doing?"

Instead of answering, Steve continued to tap away at the screen, and Danny heard the notification of a text being sent. "This isn't an episode of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire', Steven; you don't get to phone a friend on this one." He uncrossed his ankles and then crossed them again, changing up which leg was on top and which one on the bottom, and heard his own phone notification go off as he did so. Leaning forward and picking it up, he saw a text from Grace and swiped right.

_"You text my daughter to find out what I got you!?"_ Danny turned the phone towards Steve so that he could plainly see a screencap of the text his partner had sent to Grace. "And you tried to bribe her with Taylor Swift tickets?"

"Not anymore," Steve grumbled, looking slightly betrayed.

"Oh no, you're buying her those tickets Steve. Floor seats, babe."

"Danny!"

"Steven," Danny's feet hit the ground and he stood up. "Two days, Steven. Two measly days, 48 hours until Christmas. I bet you've had to wait longer for a target to pop his head out of a cave before you could shoot him. So, for your trouble, and for trying to turn my daughter against me – which, by the way, you had to know I'd already taken care of that since I knew you'd go ask her what it is that I got you – Grace gets floor seats to the Taylor Swift concert in January."

His partner heaved a heavy, dramatic sigh, but it was all for show. Of course, Steve would get the tickets no problem, and of course he would wait until Christmas and not be angry; such was their relationship. And perhaps Danny giving in just a little bit was also their relationship. "Come by tomorrow night," he relented quietly, "you and me, we'll exchange gifts then."

Steve grinned. "I was supposed to get you something too?"

"Get out, you menace."

**Hawaii Five-0**

Even after all his years in Hawaii, Danny still couldn't get one hundred percent behind Hawaiian Christmases. The state had its own unique holiday fanfare, of course; the annual parade in Honolulu was interesting and the pineapple, coconut, and beach themed Christmas ornaments were certainly new. But Danny missed the traditional seasonal surroundings he'd grown up with. He missed decorated Christmas trees that could be seen through every snow lined window of each and every house he passed, and walking through downtown Newark and smelling foods and desserts that were only made during the holiday season. He missed hearing Christmas music everywhere he went and driving through the snow, watching his breath at the same time as he watched the road while waiting patiently for his old, beat up four door sedan to heat up. It was strange walking through downtown Honolulu or Waikiki and not seeing wreaths or holly or tinsel strung up through the railings and doors, not feeling the crunch and cold of ice beneath his feet or even feeling a chilly breeze break through his coat.

It was the one time of year where Danny's heart, sometimes for the day, sometimes for just a few hours, longed for his birth home.

But never when he was with his kids, and, eventually over the years, never when he was with Steve, and that was a good thing, because this year, Rachel had the kids for Christmas and that may have been the reason why Danny had softened the previous day and asked for Steve to come by. He had the gag gift all wrapped and ready to go alongside his 'real' gift. He and Steve had done this for years now – a silly gift, one that usually poked fun at the other for their many idiosyncrasies, and then the true gift, the one that had heart and thought put into it. All that was missing now was his oddly late partner-

Who, it sounded like, was putting his key in the door at that very moment. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Danny's front door swung open and Steve entered carrying a gift bag with him. Danny smirked over his shoulder, taking in the site of his tardy partner. "Late night shopping?"

"Only for bags. I didn't have any, so I had to run out and get one – tissue paper too, so that I could wrap Charlie and Gracie's gifts." Steve lugged his gifts around the couch and set them next to the tree before taking a seat next to Danny. He looked around for a few moments, as though searching for something. Danny furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"Cookies?" Steve's look of hope could have been compared to any child swearing on a bible they'd heard Santa Clause on the roof.

"Cook- My God," Danny shook his head. "You're as bad as Charlie."

"Do you have any?"

Danny gave a long suffering eyeroll but none the less got up and headed towards the kitchen. When he came back, he had a plate filled with his famous Christmas Cookies and two glasses of milk, and he was willing to swear in a court of law that he heard Steve moan happily when he took the first bite. Danny could only shake his head. "You're ridiculous," he muttered, but there was a fond look on his face.

"Ridiculously in love with these cookies," Steve returned without missing a beat – or a bite. "Kids get off okay?"

"Yea," Danny sighed, leaning back against the couch and propping his feet up on the coffee table. "They'll be back January 5th. It's Charlie's first trip to London." He worried his lip with his teeth, willing himself not to finish his thought. It may have been years since he'd found out that Charlie was his, but every now and then, Danny felt that sharp pain of anger return when Charlie was having a 'first' that he wasn't a part of. He'd missed so many of them because of Rachel's lie. He felt a nudge against his foot and looked at his partner.

"So, you take him on his first trip some place else," Steve looked at him. "Maui, Disney World - hey, has he been to New York City yet? You take him to New York?"

"Have I taken my kid to New York City?" Danny almost looked insulted. " _Of course_ I've taken my son to New York City, what kind of a father do you take me for?"

"The best." Steve smiled and sat up, reaching over towards the tree to grab a bag and handing it to Danny. "I don't know if this is so much a present for you as it is for the rest of us, but I guess we'll see." He watched Danny reach into the bag and pull out a large mason jar with a piece of tape stuck to one side of it.

"Talking Jar," Danny turned his gift this way and that in his hands before looking at his best friend. "I'm stumped."

"You know how there are swearing jars? You know, every time you swear, you gotta put money in the jar?"

"Yea."

"Well, this is a talking jar that we'll set up at work."

"Uh-huh," Danny dead panned, sucking his bottom lip in between his teeth.

"Every time you talk at work when I tell you not to, you put money in the jar." Steve grinned. He was clearly pleased with himself.

"What happens with the money?"

"Sidestreet, Tropics, beers," Steve shrugged. "See? Benefits everyone in the end."

"You're hilarious," Danny grumbled, reaching forward to grab his gag gift and tossing it at Steve. "I tell you what, if I ever put my own money in that jar – which I won't by the way, but if I ever do – you can wear this when we go out." He watched Steve tear at the paper and dig out a grey shirt, unfolding it and laying it out over his lap to read the print on the front.

"'I'm fine'" he muttered, taking note of the large, blood red splotch of color on the lower right quarter of the t-shirt.

"You break your arm, get shot, get a concussion, lose a limb, what do you always say? 'I'm fine, Danno!'" Danny's hands mimicked Steve speaking. "Got a slug to the gut, but I'm okay, Danno; going swimming now."

"Yea, yea, yea, alright," Steve shook his head, grinning from ear to ear as he stood up and pulled off his shirt and slipped his new one on. Danny smirked.

"Wow, you must really like it, babe."

"Nah, I'm just hoping if I put it on, show some good faith towards the gift that you got me that, in return, you'll do the same when I say you can't talk anymore, and we can start to put that jar to use," Steve grinned and dug an envelope out of his back pocket. He held it up just out of Danny's reach for a moment. "Before I give this to you, and before you open it, I want your solemn promise that you'll just accept it."

Danny pursed his lips. "What'd you do?"

"Nothing."

"What'd you do, Steve?"

"I got you a Christmas present, Danny, that's all. I swear." Steve handed the envelope to Danny and crossed his arms, the latter not missing the flicker of nervousness in his partner's eyes as he took it and slid a finger underneath the fixed adhesive to open it. Once he flipped the flap open, he stuck his hand in and pulled it back out.

"These are uh, these are plane tickets."

"Yes."

"These are plane tickets for New Jersey, two of them, dated for December 27th and returning January 4th."

"Correct." Steve appeared calm, but in reality, he was waiting for the shock to wear off of his partner. He cleared his throat. "I know how you get when you don't have the kids for the holidays. Christmas is the worst time for you. So, I called your mom and told her I wanted to get you out to Jersey for the New Year. She suggested I come along. Since I sprung for the tickets, your parents paid for the hotel." He bit his lip, anxiety rising; Danny hadn't said anything yet. It seemed he was still in shock. "Danno?" He nudged the man with his foot. "The tickets are refundable, so if you don't want to go or if it's too much travel-"

Danny cut him off with that quiet, yet firm way he had when there was too much emotion in his throat for his voice to do much more than that. "Work? I mean, both us being gone for a week? On short notice? To the Mainland?"

Steve smiled. "Lou will be here. He'll watch the kids, take them through the day to day tasks you and I both do; I'm pretty sure there's a New Year's conference call with the Governor on January 2nd. It'll be good for them. They'll need to know this stuff when the time comes, y'know? And I happen to know your boss, so getting the time off wasn't a problem."

Danny laughed. "Well that's good to know. Usually he's a drill sergeant about asking for time off at the last minute – gets it from his Army days."

"Pretty sure he was in the Navy, Danno." Steve grinned.

"Thanks for this, babe," Danny stuffed the tickets back into the envelope and leaned forward to place it on the coffee table. "I promise I won't say anything about knowing how insanely expensive those tickets were since I've flown round trip from Honolulu to Jersey many times before during the holidays, and I won't tell you how you could have spent your money on something much better, or-"

"Nothing better to spend money on than you or the kids, Danny."

Quiet reigned for nearly a full half minute while Danny absorbed what Steve had said, and Steve absorbed the fact that he'd actually _said_ it. Finally, Danny cleared his throat and reached for his 'real' gift for Steve. "Didn't cost nearly as much as those tickets but I think it's worth just as much," he slid a tall, thin, rectangular shaped object wrapped in Christmas paper towards Steve, watching as his friend sat down, muttering something about the gift having to be some kind of portrait. Danny rolled his eyes. "Oh, would you please not play the 'Guess the Gift' game? Huh? Just open it."

"Alright, alright, fine," Steve grumbled, tearing the paper at the edges carefully, just in case there was something valuable beneath the wrap, and once it had all been cleared away, Steve stared at it in awe. Looking back at him behind the glass was a four-foot-tall cacophony of photos; pictures of himself, Danny, and the kids; a few of the rest of his ohana; even a picture of Eddie, but mostly of just the four of them. Some were on the beach behind Steve's house, others were at the restaurant when Steve and Danny had been working on it, still thinking they were going to open it up, a few others were at Kamekona's shrimp truck, and Steve recognized one of him and Charlie taken during the boy's 'Bring Your Parents to School Day' event. Danny hadn't been able to make it due to being stuck in court and had asked Steve to cover for him, and the SEAL had, gladly so. Rachel had snapped the photo of Charlie sitting on Steve's lap watching one of the other parent's speak in front of the class and had sent it to Danny, along with a rather interesting line of questioning involving the two Five-O officers' relationship status.

That had been a fun conversation.

"Time to update the walls in your house, babe." Danny watched Steve take in every photo one by one, watched as he traced callused fingers reverently over both Grace and Charlie's faces. "I remember this one," Steve stopped suddenly over one of him and Grace, a silly grin on his face. "This was the first time you brought Grace over to the house and she saw my surf boards. She was fascinated by them."

Danny chuckled, low and deep. "Yea, I'm very, very thankful she grew out of that fascination. I don't think I could have stood the multiple, massive coronaries I would have had every time seeing her on a board."

"Danny, you know she surfs _now_ , right?"

"She's older now," Danny replied, a little wistfully, as if that explained everything. He hated admitting that annoying fact, that his little girl, his first born, wasn't so little anymore but a young lady coming into her own. And God knew he was fiercely proud of the woman she was becoming, but he didn't hide the fact that it scared the hell out of him too.

"Charlie wants to learn too. I forgot to tell ya." Steve sat up a little straighter and leaned back, looking at Danny who was still hunched forward just a bit, but he did look over his shoulder at Steve. "Yea, I know. He's been begging me to let you give him lessons," he smiled softly. "I was wondering how long it was going to take before he just asked you himself."

"Mamo's got a friend who's running a good deal on beginner boards for kids. I figured after Charlie and Grace get back from London, I'd take him down there, let him find one he likes."

Danny leaned back against the couch, wondering why he was even going to protest, but he was. "That's a lot of money, Steve. You don't even know if he'll like it. And you just spent over three thousand dollars on First-Class round-trip airline tickets for both of us-"

"And I have so much money saved up from multiple deployments when I was younger that neither the plane tickets, nor the surf board will make a dent. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't like it," Steve shrugged. "No harm, no foul."

Danny shifted on his right side just a bit, arm to arm with his partner. "It's hundreds of dollars down the toilet, Steve. It's not just the board you're gonna buy him, I know you. It's gonna be all the surfing accessories like a wet suit or new swimming trunks or slippahs. Why don't you just rent a board for him the first few times and see how he likes it and save yourself some money?"

"Because rented boards are horrible in the water, Danny; they're used and worn down, sometimes they're not properly waxed, and I don't want him to not like surfing right off the bat because he got a crappy board on his first try." Steve narrowed his eyes, looking at Danny. "And did you just say slippahs?"

Danny blinked. "When?"

"Just now, when you were talking about what I'd buy Charlie. You said 'slippahs' instead of 'flip flops'." Steve grinned and lifted his left arm to wrap around Danny in a hug. "I feel like I just got another Christmas present."

"Stupid," Danny muttered, shaking his head. He made no move to wiggle out from under Steve's arm though and simply settled against the couch and his friend. "Slowly but surely, Danno. Slowly but surely," the SEAL murmured against his head.

"'Slowly but surely' what?"

"It's taken you eight years, but you're finally coming around to island lingo. I might get you to recite some Pidgin next, who knows?"

"I know, and the answer to that question is absolutely not. That's not even a language, its like a secret code made out of three or four different actual languages that crazy people on this island use when they want to confuse or hustle visitors and tourists for a little fun."

Steve snickered quietly next to him, his body shaking as he tried to contain his laughter through Danny's rant, and once he'd done so, he leaned back fully, arm still around Danny's shoulders and sighed happily. "I love my gift, Danny; thanks."

"Yea, well." The other man shrugged. "I figured what was one more t-shirt, especially when it so perfectly described you in an injured state."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Not that gift, the other gift."

"Ohhh, the pictures," Danny lifted his head just a bit so that he could see Steve's face. "You're welcome, babe. Figured you needed some more family photos. And it looks like we both had the same idea for each other's present. You bought tickets for me to see my family in Jersey-"

"And you gave me a family," Steve finished, tightening his arm just a little around Danny's shoulders. Quiet settled around them, the kind of peaceful silence that only came the night of Christmas Eve, when children were snug in their beds and the night seemed to stretch on forever, longer than any other night of the year. Steve almost hated to break that peace. "Hey Danny?"

"Hm."

"I was thinking, you know, when we get to New Jersey and you're done failing at trying to convince me why Jersey is better than Hawaii, do you think we can talk? Maybe?"

"Talk about what?"

The only answer Steve had for Danny was turning his face towards his partner and lightly, discreetly, nervously pressing his lips against the shaved side of his head. It couldn't even qualify as a kiss. It was more of a nuzzle, but the message was well and truly received when Danny took a deep breath and then relaxed more fully against Steve.

"Yea, babe. We can talk."

Content for the moment, Steve settled back and closed his eyes, happy to simply bask in the Christmas quiet with Danny, daring to hope that perhaps by next Christmas they might be just a little bit more than friends. It had taken both of them a long while to pull their heads out of their respective asses, to indulge in longer looks and softer words and more time spent together rather than with the rest of the team, but they'd done it.

Slowly but surely, they'd done it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve had seen all manner of horrors in his life, had experienced a few himself; from the time he'd been critically wounded in '02 and Joe had had to drag him half way across the desert, to being pinned down and watching his men around him taking enemy fire and seeing them shot, witnessing several variations of wounds from simple contusions to limbs blown off, and carrying out missions which required him to perform acts which he did his level best to never think of, Steve was certain that, before he'd left Hawaii, he'd beheld the worst of what life could throw at him.
> 
> But Steve had never experienced John F. Kennedy Airport during the holiday season, and he could now confirm for any and all who asked that he had, personally and up close, seen Hell itself and, thanks to Danny, had somehow managed to survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Author’s Note_ : Welp. I’ve gone and done it. I’ve put my other story on hold to add to this one, because it’s just begging for a fuller, more fleshed out plot with an overabundance of fluff, love, adorableness, and holiday cuteness. 
> 
> Eat your heart out, Hallmark Channel.
> 
> The boys are in New Jersey. Talking, flirting, meeting the whole family; all of the wonderful things that make Christmas romances the wonderful treasures they are can be found in this story. At least, I hope they can be found in this story! There will definitely be several conversations between our favorite guys about everything that might ail them with migrating from a platonic to a romantic relationship, and I hope everyone enjoys those discussions. I’ll be posting as I go, no worries about that – in fact, I am almost finished, I do believe. As always, comments are my chocolate!
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work._

**Hawaii Five-0**

Steve had seen all manner of horrors in his life, had experienced a few himself; from the time he'd been critically wounded in '02 and Joe had had to drag him half way across the desert, to being pinned down and watching his men around him taking enemy fire and seeing them shot, witnessing several variations of wounds from simple contusions to limbs blown off, and carrying out missions which required him to perform acts which he did his level best to never think of, Steve was certain that, before he'd left Hawaii, he'd beheld the worst of what life could throw at him.

But Steve had never experienced John F. Kennedy Airport during the holiday season, and he could now confirm for any and all who asked that he had, personally and up close, seen Hell itself and, thanks to Danny, had somehow managed to survive.

Speaking of Danny, he still had a shit-eating grin all over his face as he watched Steve take in the absolute chaos that was JFK. On the one hand, Danny understood it; his partner came from a background where, no matter how hard he tried not to, his brain was trained to perform threat assessments in large, densely populated areas like airports. So, the fact that Steve was constantly looking around, watching for unattended packages or luggage or suspicious travelers, and noting where security was currently posted not only didn't surprise Danny, it tugged at his heart a little as well.

But the other side of Danny, the side that was enjoying watching Steve experience true holiday madness at one of the most traveled airports in the entire world? Well, that part of Danny was edging out his sympathetic side, just slightly, yes, but also just enough. Not to mention when he had initially looked at the tickets, the date to fly out of Honolulu had indeed read December 27th, but Danny had neglected to also read the departure time, which meant that when he'd finally realized that Steve had booked them on a red eye out of Hawaii at 11:30pm, he'd done a good amount of kvetching and grumbling while Steve attempted to pacify him with the benefits of flying at night, even if said flight was eleven hours.

Danny glanced at his phone, noting the time: 4:00pm. Okay, so maybe Steve had a point about the red eye. "Mom'll have dinner ready to go by the time we get there, but we're eating at Manny's at least once while we're here so that you can taste real food."

Steve only nodded, doing his level best to keep his 'I-Served-In-The-Sandbox-Don't-Fuck-With-Me' face from reaching critical heights.

They headed towards the car rental kiosks where Danny quickly and seamlessly checked out the car he'd had on reserve. "Old hat, babe," he said when Steve furrowed his brow. "I've done this once or twice." Steve shrugged, picked up his bags, and followed Danny out the sliding glass doors, only to be hit by a burst of frigid air and he actually had to stop for a moment to ground himself. Not that he would tell Danny this, but inwardly, he was thanking the man for making him buy a semi descent coat for their trip. Said other man was walking towards their awaiting vehicle, which turned out to be a black, 2017 Chevy Impala. Steve stretched his hand towards Danny, grinning and making a 'gimme gesture' with his fingers.

"Uh, no, not happening." Danny opened the truck and shoved his bags in side, motioning for Steve to do the same while also refusing to come any closer to his partner. Down that path lay the probable future of the keys being stolen right out of his hand.

"I wanna drive, Danny."

"Yes, Steven, I know you want to drive. You always want to drive. But allow me to remind you that you have no idea where you're going, and, you may not have noticed, but the white stuff you see all around you is snow, not to mention we're gonna be hitting rush hour traffic for everyone leaving the city to head home to Jersey. And," Danny headed for the driver's side door and opened it, looking back at Steve, "the car is in my name, and with your, shall we say _stellar_ reputation for crashing them, I simply refuse to eat the repair costs and insurance hikes that will ensue if I allow you behind the wheel of this very pretty, very nice vehicle. Now, please, if you would, put your bags in the trunk and let's go. Ma's making meatloaf for dinner and I haven't had that since last year, and if you make me late for my mother's meatloaf, Steven, if that delectable, spicy loaf of beef is cold by the time we get to my parents' house, I will quite simply leave you to sleep there and deal with my mother on your own while I go and stay in the nice, quiet hotel room."

Danny logged the threat in his mind's running file of 'How to Get Steve to do What I Want' as he watched his partner toss his things into the trunk, shut it, and get in on the passenger side with no further complaints.

It turned out that Steve was rather glad to be the passenger, because it meant he got a front row seat to the entertainment that was Danny driving in the greater Manhattan area. "Babe, remind me why you chose to fly into JFK again?"

"It was cheaper?"

"It was cheaper," Danny snickered, shaking his head. "Lemme tell you something, the next time we come out here? We fly into Newark, okay? Right into Newark so we don't have to deal with city traffic."

Steve immediately got the dopiest grin on his face, as if Danny was a drug and Steve had just taken the purest hit of him. "We're coming out here again?"

And so the drive went, Steve looking out the window as Danny drove them down Belt Parkway and over New York Harbor into New Jersey, and it was all skyscrapers and parks and little neighborhoods and burrows that Steve could see beyond Interstate 278, all still decorated and lit up for the holidays. "They leave them up until a few days after New Year's," Danny supplied as he easily moved the car into the exit lane to get on the turnpike. And that was when things got interesting. For a moment, all Steve heard was Danny cursing viciously and the dueling honking of horns, but all too soon, he realized that he was witnessing what Danny often referred to as a 'Classic Jersey Turnpike Conversation'.

"G'head, ya putz, get out of the car, let's see what happens!" Danny was currently yelling at the driver who'd zipped across three lanes of traffic to cut in front of them on the exit ramp, and who thought it wise to motion at Danny via his rear-view mirror, not to mention turn around in his seat to look out the back window and continue his road rage when traffic on the off ramp came to a halt. Steve, for his part, merely sat quietly, watching and listening to his partner continue to yell and trade varying 'R' rated hand gestures with the knucklehead before having enough and, digging his badge out of his pocket, flashed it at the guy in front of him who promptly thought better of following through on anything he might have threatened, and turned back around.

Steve shoved the badge back in his pocket and looked at Danny, eyebrow raised. "I still think you should have let me drive."

"Of course you do." Danny sighed, and traffic started moving again.

By the time Danny pulled the Impala into his parents' drive way, it was nearing 6:00pm and both men were tired and more than ready to sit down to a good meal. Thankfully, when Clara opened the door, she immediately stepped aside after hugging and kissing them both hello and ushered them into the dining room where Eddie Williams sat waiting.

"Pop," Danny gave his father a tight hug, and Steve followed right behind with a firm handshake before everyone settled in at the table and Clara began filling the boys' plates, all the while asking them how their flight and drive were and if they'd been to the hotel yet.

"Nah, not yet, Ma. We touched down and hopped in the car and now we're here," Danny took a bite of the meatloaf and immediately crumpled into his seat. "Oh my God, I've missed you so much."

"Well, we've missed you too," Clara sat down, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulders. "It's hard having my little boy 5,000 miles away, working a job that makes it so difficult for him to return phone calls or texts or emails-"

Danny sighed. Steve snickered. Eddie rolled his eyes. "Clara, come on, the kid just sat down after a twelve-hour flight-"

"Well, I'm just saying it would be nice to hear from him more, and from Grace and Charlie," Clara smiled brightly at her son, dulcet, Bambi like voice continuing to wash over all three men as they ate – well, Eddie and Steve ate; Danny shoveled meatloaf and mashed potatoes into his mouth as if he were eating his last meal. None of this stopped Clara, who simply continued on. "Your sisters want to see you while you're here, Danny, and Stella wants to meet Steve, but don't worry honey," she reached over and patted Steve on the arm, "I told her you were already taken."

This time, Steve choked, and Danny snickered. Eddie still rolled his eyes. "I don't think Steve's relationship status is really any of our business, honey, come on; leave the boys alone, let them get some food in them, huh? Hey, you guys check out your hotel online at least? It's a pretty swanky place."

"Pop, you didn't have to break the bank to put us up, ya know?"

Eddie patted his wife's hand before gently taking it in his own. "Your mother and I decided to make that your Christmas gift since Steve bought the tickets to bring you out here, so, no arguing." And maybe it was because Danny, being a good Irish/Italian Catholic boy, was raised not to argue with his father, or perhaps it was that he was elated to see his parents so happy and knowing that it could have all ended a few years ago that caused him to go back to simply eating his food and drinking his beer and making small talk.

"Mrs. Williams, that was amazing, thank you," Steve leaned back against his chair, hardly able to move and not wanting to either.

"Steve, I think I've told you to call me Clara. Don't worry," she winked at him, "Eddie won't get mad at you if you do – Danny, grab the rest of the plates and come help me with the dishes when you're done." Clara sauntered out of sight as Danny shifted in his seat. Steve looked at him, raising an eyebrow in question when his partner didn't move any further than that. "Danny? You gonna go help your mom?"

"I…I don't know if that's such a great idea-and I'm still eating-"

"Daniel, you know your mother; go talk about whatever it is she wants to talk about with you and then you and Steve hightail it out to the hotel." With that last bit of imparted wisdom, Eddie got up from the table and clapped Steve on the back. "You can come have a drink with me in the den while Danny's enduring his interrogation."

"I hate you both," the detective muttered, but none the less, he stood up and gathered what dishes he could (along with his courage) and carried them into the kitchen as if he were walking towards his execution. He inched forward towards the sink counter, placed the dishes on it, and turned to quickly head out to the dining room to grab more when his mother spoke.

"So, I think you're really going to love the hotel room your father and I got for the both of you." Clara rinsed a plate and stuck it in the strainer. "It has a view of the Hudson River, a cozy living room, the bathroom is so spacious, and the hotel itself is really wonderful. It has its own restaurant, a fitness center that Steve will love – I remember you telling me that Steve really likes working out…" She grinned and looked over at her son, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world, including North Korea and Afghanistan all over again, if it allowed him to just _not be here_ for this conversation. "Which I'm sure you're noticing a little more these days, hmm?"

Danny was pretty sure he hadn't blushed this hard since asking out Teresa Giordano in the tenth grade. _"Mom!_ "

"What, honey? Oh, don't be like that," Clara wiped her hands on a dish towel and crossed the few feet it took to stand in front of her boy to hold his face in her hands. "Why else would Steve call us wanting to bring you out here, huh? Why do you think I suggested he come with you and that we'd take care of the hotel since he bought the plane tickets?" She smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "It's not every day that someone is willing to spend that kind of money on a person, Danny, and to send you back here, to see your family? Without including himself until I made him promise?" She shook her head as she stepped back towards the sink. "He's a keeper, Danny."

"Yea, but… Ma," Danny groaned. "Look, I don't – I don't even have him yet, is the thing." He took a breath, deciding to go all in. "We're gonna talk about that while we're out here, actually. You know there's a lot to talk about with… with all that." He pursed his lips. "Pop know?"

Clara shook her head. "I haven't said anything to him. That's something you should talk to him about, honey." At Danny's hesitance, she laughed a girlish, knowing giggle. "That makes you nervous," she observed.

"Well of course it makes me nervous, Ma, I mean," Danny dragged a hand through his hair and trailed off.

"He probably won't understand it," Clara reasoned. "We come from a different time, Danny, a different generation. Where we come from, you went to school and church, you married young, and you started your family – and we're all Catholic and I-Ti, so it was even more of an expectation." She smiled at him. "But if you're afraid your father is going to turn you out or be angry about it… you sell him short, Danny. He won't understand two guys loving each other like that; he says all the time men would be lost without their female halves." Danny didn't miss the proud look on his mother's face, and it was simply another reminder of how good things were between his parents now. "But you're his son, the only son we have left," she added on sadly, "and he loves you. And he likes Steve," she nodded. "He respects what he does, he's glad he's there to watch over you, that he's your partner at work." She leaned forward and kissed Danny's cheek, rubbing the lipstick from his skin. "Go out to the table and bring me the rest of the dishes, and then you and Steve head over to the hotel."

"You mentioned you can see the Hudson River from the room?" Danny held in his groan. That meant the place was a half hour away at least, and that it was expensive. "You and Pop really didn't have to spend all that money, Ma."

"They were running a special," Clara replied, and she waved Danny off. That was that, as far she was concerned.

It wasn't long before Danny and Steve were (thankfully) back in the car and headed for the hotel. "Ma said she wants us to come back Sunday for dinner to see Stella and Bridget."

"Yea, how is Bridget doing anyways?" Steve glanced at Danny, who offered him a look of his own before answering. "Why, you still crushing on her?"

"You still sore about that?"

"Well, it's my baby sister, and you were talking about sliding into second with my baby sister the first time you met her so yea, I'm – that's not something a big brother forgets, you know?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "I was talking about the other guy-"

"You're a big brother," Danny pointed out, "how'd you feel if I said that about Mary?"

"If you'd mentioned that it looked like some other guy was trying to put the moves on Mary, get to second base with Mary in public?"

"Yea."

"Yea? I'd thank you for being a good friend and go have a conversation with the guy," Steve shifted to the right in his seat to lean against the door just a bit.

Danny couldn't help but snicker. "A 'conversation' with the guy, you mean you'd take him out back behind the wood shed."

"Absolutely."

"She's, ya know…," Danny took a breath. "She tried really, really hard, Steve, but in the end, I guess she and Ted just couldn't make it work. You know she had the kids all the time and she was working, and everything was on her. Ted was off on this business trip here and that conference there. He got another promotion after the one that Bridge told me about when she visited two years ago, which meant he was away from home more and more afterwards," Danny sighed. "It's not like any of us can ask her to stay in a marriage where she doesn't feel loved or even a priority, you know?"

Steve nodded. "She could probably do with a visit from you then," he grinned. "What'd your mom want?"

"Oh God, please… do not make me relive that discussion, please? Okay, I want to wipe that entire conversation from my memory."

**Hawaii Five-0**

"Danny, it couldn't have been that bad, I mean, it's your mom, it's Clara!"

Danny stopped in front of their hotel room door and slowly looked over his shoulder at his partner. "I realize that you haven't had as much contact with my mother as I have over the years, but babe, I promise you, this is not a conversation any son wants to have with their mother, alright?" He slipped the key card into the door and pushed it open, fumbling for a light as he entered. "Wow."

"Wow is right," Steve looked suitably impressed. It appeared to be a two-room suite, the door opening into the living quarters, a sofa lining the left wall with an entertainment center along the opposite, a flat screen television perched on its surface. Parallel to the door was a bay window, curtains pulled to the side with elegant drapes, that gave a beautiful view of the Hudson River and of Manhattan just across its banks just as Clara had promised. While Danny opened the double doors on his right to enter the bedroom, Steve opted to investigate the view further. "We gotta send your parents something nice, man," Steve whistled low at the scene beneath him. With all of the lights from the shops and street lamps below, he could still see the water of the river reflected back at him, and the skyscrapers of New York on the other side of the Hudson with the moon hanging high and bright made the city seem like an untouchable enchantment, just out of reach of reality. Steve had seen a lot of cities at night before, but he hadn't often seen New York City after dark, and never like this, not with snow covering the ground and Christmas lights still decorating the shops and the skyline.

"Well, Ma wasn't kidding; that bathroom is pretty spectacular," Danny entered the living room of the suite and ambled up behind him, hands in his pockets. "Nice, huh?"

"Yea, it's something," Steve murmured quietly. "I never really got to see Manhattan like this before. Not even during Fleet Week." The wonder in Steve's voice made Danny want to classify that unfortunate admission as a felony. Instead, he offered the next day's weather report. "It's supposed to snow some more over night; starts in a few hours."

"So, we won't be going into the city tomorrow then?"

Danny blinked, not missing the disappointed tone in his partner's voice. "Why wouldn't we go into the city?"

"Well, because..." Steve looked at him just as incredulously. "I mean, it's snow, Danny, it freezes stuff all over. I've seen New York City when it snows; it's horrible."

"That's why we take the subway into the city," Danny grinned and tapped the side of his head. "The Hoboken PATH is a couple of blocks down the street. We'll head there tomorrow morning and take the train in. From there, we can go where ever we want."

Steve looked at him. "Where do you want to go?"

"The shower," Danny answered promptly, "seriously, Steve, I've been to New York so many times I've seen everything a hundred times over. Think about it while I fall asleep under the hot water, alright?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny must have felt Steve lurking because he glanced over his shoulder, and Steve didn’t miss the once over he was given by his partner. That was new; not just one of them openly appraising the other, but the not caring if they were seen doing it. Danny looked at him over the lip of his coffee mug, blue eyes swarmed in a sleepy haze that nearly made Steve suggest they forgo any plans for the day and simply stay in the hotel room. In bed. Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New York City, baby! Also, the hotel that Danny and Steve are staying is indeed called ‘W Hoboken’. It is right on the banks of the Hudson River, is part of the Marriott family of hotels (which auto means is fabulous – I love Marriott), and does indeed have rooms which over look the Hudson right over to Manhattan. Most of the things you read about in this story have been researched (thank you Google) so that, whether or not you’ve been to NYC, you know where the guys are and can see it in your minds eye (hopefully). So! Enjoy!

**Hawaii Five-0**

The flight to New Jersey may have wiped Danny out, but as jet lagged as Steve felt, it didn't stop him from waking up at 6:30am the following morning, throwing on some sweats, and leaving the room to take a run outside. However, as soon as he entered the lobby, he was reminded that it had snowed overnight, just like Danny had said it would, and instead resigned himself to the W Hoboken's gym, which, as it turned out, wasn't half bad. He wasn't wild about running on a treadmill and he wished he could take a swim in the Hudson without turning into a SEAL-popsicle, but he made do. If nothing else, the exercise helped get his mind off of Danny, and that they were here, together, for a week, and that they would _talk_.

Steve didn't really experience anxiety; sure, in certain situations, in combat situations, naturally stressful events of course he would exhibit several signs of anxiousness, even downright fear, especially if Danny was involved in any way, but on the whole, anxiety or nervousness over the mundane, every day motions of life were most certainly not a usual experience for him. His only trigger, really, was when Danny, Grace, or Charlie were involved. So the fact that he'd woken up with thoughts of how the next seven days with Danny were going to go and wondering when, and even if, they were going to really talk about their feelings for each other, and if everything was going to be okay or if they'd be leaving New Jersey on separate flights was quite a change from his normal _modus operandi_.

To start with, Steve couldn't believe he'd been the one to broach the subject. He figured he and Danny would either go on as they normally did, or that if the stars aligned, one of them would bring it up at an appropriate time. But no, Steve had floated the idea right on Danny's couch earlier that week, and now here he was, pounding the treadmill trying to work out exactly how to even bring it up.

Did Danny want to go any further? Or was he just humoring Steve? Was it just out of obligation, to clear things up, get this behind them, or did Danny feel the same way?

Well, no. Steve shook his head and punched the incline on the treadmill up, increasing the intensity of his work out. No, he knew Danny felt the same way. But did Danny want to _do_ anything about it, that was the question. And for that matter, did _Steve_ want to? How much would things change if they gave this a shot? What would Danny's family think? Steve knew Danny had been raised Catholic, that his parents led a traditional life – Clara had been a stay at home mother, raising four children while Eddie had worked his tail off as a firefighter, had dug people, both dead and alive, out of the rubble from the World Trade Center when 9/11 hit – but that was all Steve knew. If he was being honest with himself, he was more nervous about Eddie than he was Clara. The old man seemed to like him well enough, but could that change if he and Danny got together?

Those thoughts and more continued to run through Steve's head for the duration of his morning workout and by the time he was done, he was slightly calmer, but scores of 'what ifs' kept his mind firing as he made his way back up to the room and quietly opened and closed the door. Peeking his head into the bedroom suite and seeing that Danny was still sacked out, Steve silently padded over to the entertainment center and opened the door to reveal a fridge, a microwave, and a small basket filled with coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and various other snacks. Plucking one of the coffee packets out, he poured it into the filter, and then crept into the bathroom with the coffee pot and filled it to the brim. It wasn't long before he was watching Danny's life's blood drip into the pot and the room quickly began to fill with a fresh, roasted aroma. He knew that would get Danny up and moving quicker than he ever could, and, leaving the delicious scent to do its job and waft into the bedroom, Steve took the opportunity to have a quick shower.

By the time he was finished (he'd allowed himself five minutes – Danny should be proud of him) and had stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, he could see Danny perched on his bed, looking quite content with a steaming cup of joe cupped in his hands. Steve grinned, watching his partner in his natural environment for a few silent, selfish seconds; with his hair mussed, t-shirt rumpled, body mostly relaxed, sweat pants rucked up at the ankles, Danny was adorable, almost childlike as he slowly blinked and woke up, caffeine running through his veins and doing the hard work of forcing a human being to a fully alert status.

Apparently, it was working. Danny must have felt Steve lurking because he glanced over his shoulder, and Steve didn't miss the once over he was given by his partner. That was new; not just one of them openly appraising the other, but the not caring if they were seen doing it. Danny looked at him over the lip of his coffee mug, blue eyes swarmed in a sleepy haze that nearly made Steve suggest they forgo any plans for the day and simply stay in the hotel room. In bed. Together.

His heart fluttered at that thought. Not there yet, not yet, too soon. But this was the first time Steve was in a position to actively suggest it, and not feel strange at all.

"I got something on my face?" Danny lowered the mug and settled it in his lap carefully, watching Steve with a soft look. Danny, who was always so much better with the 'feelings' thing, clearly knew what his partner was thinking and seemed content to wait Steve out, to allow him the time he needed to get himself straight and decide what he wanted to do.

Caution won out. "N-no, no just…" Steve flailed a hand helplessly in Danny's direction, who only chuckled to himself in response and resumed his slow, savory consumption of his beloved coffee. "I saw they were open for breakfast in the restaurant downstairs when I was coming back up." The invitation hung there between them, as awkwardly as Steve himself felt and stood. And he was still in his towel.

Perfect.

"Alright," Danny pushed himself up and off the bed and walked around to where Steve stood, setting his coffee mug on the bedside table while the SEAL looked at him dumbly. "Let's do this instead," Danny stepped up to his partner, careful not to brush against the towel, and with a sure hand, reached up to tug Steve's head down just a bit and brushed his lips gently against Steve's. Danny was gratified to feel and hear the quiet, stuttered gasp his partner gave, and the fingers of his hand slowly came to rest against the five o'clock shadow of Steve's jaw. He felt the other man give another shudder, and, deciding to test a theory, brushed his fingers along the line of Steve's jaw once more. Sure enough, another shiver worked through Steve's body before Danny felt large, powerful hands finally touch him, one blessedly cradling his neck, and the other resting warm and sure on his hip. He smiled against Steve's mouth as he felt the angle of their first kiss change and allowed Steve to take the lead from there. That was all Steve needed, Danny knew; for the ice to be broken and for Steve to know, truly know and understand and feel that he wouldn't be turned away or rejected, or that Danny would suddenly put a stop to his advance. And now that Steve realized that, Danny was currently on the receiving end of one of the sweetest, most worshiping kisses he'd ever experienced in his life, morning breath be damned.

Finally, Steve's lips fell from Danny's, grazing the blonde's cheek, jaw, and chin before he rested his forehead against his partner's, breathing slow and deep as he calmed himself.

"Good, babe?" Danny's voice rumbled between the two of them. Steve nodded once, forcing himself to breath deep and slow.

"Yea, Danno. Good."

Danny didn't miss Steve shifting his body in such a way that he wouldn't brush up against his own, but the SEAL's head and hands never left the home they'd found. Danny couldn't help but laugh quietly.

"Little problem there, Steve?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it little." The flush to Steve's cheeks was simply loveable and Danny found himself wanting to see more of it.

"Get dressed, you goof. We'll grab breakfast after I shower and decide what to do for the day."

**Hawaii Five-0**

"I don't like it."

"It's a subway, Steven. No one likes the subway."

Steve gripped the left side of his seat while his other hand tightly held a metal poll which reached from the partition of his booth on the right up to the ceiling of the metro car. "Is it supposed to rock this much though? This thing feels like it's literally gonna go off the rails."

"I have seen you jump into a helicopter taking off," Danny muttered while sitting next to him. "Leap onto a speeding 18-wheeler from the ledge of a tunnel off the H-1, survive capture in North Korea and Afghanistan, not to mention in the beloved state of Hawaii, and you think a train that runs back and forth from Hoboken and New York City 50 times a day is what's gonna take you out?"

Steve glowered the rest of the way into the City, and he was the first one out the door when the PATH pulled into the center at World Trade Center. He stood on the platform waiting for Danny and when the shorter man finally caught up with him, he fixed the man with a quick glare. "I'm swimming back to Hoboken, just so you know."

Danny laughed and settled a gloved hand against Steve's back, leading him up towards the stairs and into the bustle of the city. Of course, as they were right by the 9/11 Memorial, they started there first. "Did you know anyone?" Danny asked as they walked the perimeter of the well of rock where water cascaded over the sides and fell into the depths of marbled rock to mark the place where 3,000 people had lost their lives.

"Yea," Steve breathed, "one of my Navy buddies. He'd gotten out, decided to use his GI bill money to go to school for business. He'd gotten a job at a company and the headquarters' were in New York. He was at Trade Center One that day for a meeting. You know the funny thing?" Steve stopped by one of the walls and looked at Danny. "The meeting was supposed to be at 1:00pm that afternoon, but he moved it up so that he could catch the train home in time to see his kid's recital that evening." Steve stuck his hands in the pockets of his thick coat. Danny did the same. Steve looked him over quietly for a moment or two before asking, "Did you want to visit Grace while we were here?"

"She's not listed anywhere here, babe. She didn't die because of the attacks." Danny took a breath, watching the white fog float away in the air in front of him.

"She didn't die because of you either, Danny," Steve nudged his partner gently and continued walking along, Danny at his side. They strolled around the entire perimeter before Danny cleared his throat. "Alright, enough of all of this. We're supposed to be having fun, enjoying ourselves, not walking around like we're at a funeral. What do you wanna do?"

"Times Square?" Steve suggested after a moment, and Danny grinned. "We can do Times Square. That's way up though, so we gotta get back on the Subway."

Steve's eye twitched. "…anything around here?"

In the end, they wound up getting back on the subway and heading up to Times Square. After a few turns of train hopping, Steve finally relaxed and was even standing up and holding onto one of the ceiling handles as they pulled into the 42nd Street Metro. Danny seemed inordinately proud that Steve had mastered something as simple as riding a subway, and the two prowled around down town for the remainder of the day.

"I never seen so many Starbucks in all my life," Steve sipped his coffee, "they got two stores right across from each other, Danny; it's ridiculous."

"Almost nine million people live in the Big Apple; gotta have enough coffee for everybody, otherwise the murder rate's gonna go up," Danny shrugged. Steve couldn't really disagree with that assessment. "Maybe if they had a little bit more of the Aloha spirit, they might not be quite so homicidal without caffeine."

"They're New Yorkers, Steven," Danny looked at him with the purest look of 'duh'. "They'll beat the hell out of you if you _breath_ funny."

There was more than enough to occupy them in the immediate area, and they stuck to simply ambling about the blocks, crossing the streets, and stopping to look at anything that interested them, or mainly interested Steve. Coming to the city was a day to day thing back when Danny had been living in New Jersey – he'd seen everything a thousand times over. Steve, on the other hand, hadn't been to New York in years, and Danny was certain that everything looked a fair bit different now than when it had the last time his partner had visited.

Eventually, their walk about had them standing in front of a large, affluent looking building. "This place looks familiar," Steve muttered, staring up at it.

"It's the Plaza Hotel, babe."

Steve looked at Danny. "I've never stayed here before; why do I recognize it?"

"Probably because it was in one of the most famous and beloved Christmas movies all time." When Steve furrowed his brow, Danny's shoulders sagged. "Aw, come on, don't tell me you've never seen _Home Alone 2_?"

Steve attempted to redeem himself by telling Danny he'd at least seen the first _Home Alone_ , but his partner wasn't having it. "When we get back to the room tonight? We're watching that."

Steve pouted. Shyly. Could a person shyly pout? Danny wasn't certain, but he was sure that was exactly what Steve was doing when he said: "I was kinda hoping to do other things tonight… maybe…"

"I'm sure you were babe, but," Danny gentled his voice, "but, and I say this with all kindness and love and affection for you – you and me, this thing we're doing? We need to take it slow, okay? You know what slow means, right? Cuz I know sometimes you forget what us normal folks consider slow and you have the tendency to go at warp speed-"

Steve rolled his eyes. "Danny…"

"No, Steven, come on; listen to me." Danny led him down the sidewalk running alongside Central Park. "Look, this whole thing is new for the both of us. I know how I feel about you; I know how you feel about me. And that kiss this morning in our room was wonderful, alright? It was perfect, exactly how a first kiss should be. For us, you and me, guys like us that have enough problems letting people that far in, especially another man? That was a pretty big step. And I know you – that was your big hurdle and now that you've jumped it, you want to go the rest of the way. But we still need to take our time."

The taller man blew a short puff of frustrated air from his nose. "Why?"

"Because I have _hair_ on my chest, Steve." Danny looked at him frankly, but his partner didn't seem to make the connection that Danny was going for, so he continued on. "I don't have breasts. I've got scruff on my face and I'm all muscle – no soft curves to be found here. And it's the same with you. Before this morning… before you, I never so much as looked at a guy and thought he was sexually attractive to me; attractive, yes. Ascetically pleasing to the eye, certainly, but sexually attractive? No. And I know you haven't either, and the last thing I want is for us to get started and then one of us freak out when our cocks brush each other." Danny gripped Steve's coat to pull him just that little bit closer. "I want to do this right, Steve, and I know if we rush this, if we act like stupid guys and just fall into bed because we can't control ourselves… it's not gonna end well."

He looked up at Steve, at the man blinking incredibly long lashes with eyes that were bluer now than Danny had ever seen them. Eyes that were filled with eagerness, and want, and understanding, and determination to push past the tiny bit of nagging fear that Danny knew was still lurking within the other man, and within himself too if he was being honest, although Steve didn't need to know that, not yet at least. "If nothing else, our first time… you know, uh… going further than just a kiss? I don't want that to be in some hotel room bed, as nice as the hotel is."

"You want it to be in Hawaii where people know we're home and can interrupt us with cases?" But Steve smiled just a little, showing his teeth, and Danny knew they were okay. "We'll do it your way Danno." Steve looked at him quietly for a few moments. "I trust you."

"Good," Danny blew out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and rolled his lips a bit as he looked around. "You trust me to find us dinner, too?"

"Hard Rock?"

"That's all the way down on 43rd Street."

Steve crinkled his brow and looked around. "Where are we now?"

"South side of Central Park so that would put as at 59th. But," Danny started walking towards the intersection nearby, "5th Street is this way, and there's a metro station right there."

Steve, like a puppy to its master, followed dutifully behind.

**Hawaii Five-0**

After a full dinner at the Hard Rock Café, and Steve, against Danny's grumbling, buying him an olive-green polo shirt styled in the military fashion – "It'll look good on you" Steve had said -, they were both on the PATH back to Hoboken. It was nearing 9:00pm as they walked back from the station, hands in pockets, coats zipped and buttoned tight, knit hats pulled down low over their ears. "Not bad for a first date," Steve commented, his breath puffing up and off in front of him as they walked. "Thanks, Danny."

"Date's not over yet," the blonde responded, opening up the main door of the hotel and hustling them both inside towards the elevator. "We still got a movie to watch."

"Is it that good?"

" _Is it that good_?" Danny was visibly insulted and proceeded to regale Steve with all the reasons why Home Alone 2 was a must watch for every person, especially if they hadn't had the opportunity to see it when they were a kid.

"Well," Steve opened the door to their room, "if we're gonna watch it, shouldn't we watch the first one?"

"You're not tired?"

"I'm beat, but I've stayed up way later and for less fun reasons than to watch a movie." Steve pulled the pillows from his bed, tossed them on Danny's, and set to removing his coat and hat while Danny brought up the order on the TV and placed _Home Alone_ in the queue. It wasn't long before both men were in their sleepwear and lying next to each other in Danny's bed, heads propped up by pillows and each one snug underneath the covers.

"You know, I was 12 or 13 when this movie came out?" Steve puffed the pillow under his back just a little. "And I still thought it was the funniest thing I'd seen."

"Lemme guess; you were the one who mapped out an entire defense plan in the event your house was burglarized." Danny's head lulled to the left, giving his partner an affectionate grin.

"Nah, I'd already done that by the time I was ten."

Danny snickered next to him. "Of course you had; SuperSEAL Junior, that was you."

"More like SuperScout at that point – oh geeze, I always hated this part." Steve brought bent his right leg up just a bit, enough to grip the foot as Marv stepped on a nail in an attempt to break into the main section of Kevin McCallister's house. "I was always able to, like, _feel_ the nail go on, y'know?"

"You're ridiculous, no- " Danny shook his head and sat up as Steve began to protest. "I have seen you witness and be around injuries and crime scenes way worse than that, and this," he jabbed a finger at the screen, " _that_ is what makes you turn into a marshmallow?"

"He's getting a _nail shoved in his foot_ , Danny!" Steve looked at Danny as if he were the one losing his mind. "And what is it with you comparing me to desserts all the time?"

"Marshmallow is a dessert food?"

"You've called me a gooey chocolate chip cookie before, a slice of warm cake, a hot fudge sundae without the cherry, which I don't even know why-"

"I don't like cherries." Danny shrugged.

"And every other warm, melty kind of dessert there is," Steve finished as if Danny hadn't interrupted him, and peered at him. "Do you have a dessert fetish? That's it, isn't it. You have a dessert fetish."

"This is stupid, you're just-"

"It's okay if you do, man, I'm just saying-"

"That you would think something so ridiculous while we're watching _Home Alone_ -"

"People have fetishes, it's okay, I hear it's a totally normal thing to have-"

"You are a putz." Danny tugged a pillow out from under his back, tossed it onto Steve which landed partially on his head and shoulder but a majority on his side and chest, and settled himself onto it while curling into Steve just that little bit. It wasn't long before he felt Steve's arm settle around his shoulders as the other man asked, "Did you queue up _Home Alone 2_ behind this?"

"Yea, it'll start automatically once the credits are done."

Neither of them saw the start of the second movie because by the time the opening credits were rolling for the sequel, both Steve and Danny were slumped against the bed, cocooned in pillows and blankets and limbs, each sleeping deeply and snuffling softly against the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Christmas, and the Home Alone movies (1 and 2) are an absolute must for me every single year. I binge on them. And of course, when one is in New York City, we can't forget about the beloved Starbucks. I went on a competition trip to New York when I was in high school, I there was, I kid you not, two Starbucks stores directly across the street from one another. I was about 17 at the time and had never seen anything like it. We had Starbucks where I lived down south, but nothing close to two stores being across from each other, or even within a few miles of the other. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm editing Chapter 4 now, and hammering out Chapter 6 :D


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So. What'd you tell them?" Danny fixed his mother with a look. But Clara had bequeathed that particular expression to Danny, had perfected it over her years, and she merely smiled sweetly at her little boy. "What do you mean?" Her voice and face were as innocent as an angel's. Danny wasn't buying it for once second.
> 
> "Bridget and Stella have kidnapped Steve and have him downstairs in the den. They're peppering him with questions and very likely making him feel really uncomfortable, which, under most circumstances I'd find pretty funny and would have no sympathy for him what so ever, but since I know what they're asking him about, I am now asking you, Ma… what'd you say to Bridge and Stell?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Author’s Note_ : I was hoping to actually be done drafting this story by this point, but my Muse has other plans. There is a lot to talk about after all, a lot of perspectives and opinions to be had and fielded. I said that I wanted this story to be an honest conversation between what two, straight, alpha men might go through if they developed feelings for each other, and I hope that I’m delivering on that so far. If there’s a convo that I haven’t touched on yet that perhaps you want to see, leave it in the comments, and I’ll see if I can work it in! If not, perhaps I might be able to make another fiction out of it – who knows? Until then, Happy Christmas Eve, be safe, be merry, and every blessing on each and every one of you!
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work._

**Hawaii Five-0**

Steve was comfortably warm and completely at ease as he slowly woke. The morning light was filtering through the edges of the curtains casting the room in a soft, easy glow, and Steve could feel the even breathing of Danny next to him, deep and slow. The man had an arm thrown about Steve's stomach, and throughout the night, Danny had wedged his head in the crook where Steve's arm met his shoulder and had thrown his leg over top of his partner's own. Steve nuzzled his nose against Danny's hair and hugged him just a little more tightly, his right arm already securely around the blonde's waist, feeling a distinct hardness against his thigh when he did so.

Okay, so, that was new. Should he move his leg to create some distance? Or leave it so as not to create additional friction? Or just avoid either of those two options by simply waking Danny up?

"Told you."

Steve looked down at Danny, pushing away his momentary surprise that his partner was actually awake. "Told me what?"

"About going any further than some light making out." Danny snuffed against Steve's chest, eyes still closed, mouth against his partner's shirt making his words even more muffled as he spoke. He didn't adjust his body though; he stayed right where he was, morning wood and all. And Steve was loath to admit now that maybe Danny had a point, but while it was definitely strange… it wasn't exactly unpleasant. "No harm in taking things slow, Speed Racer," Danny yawned and looked up at him.

In response, Steve rolled Danny over and settled into the side of his body just as Danny had done with him. Who knew Steve would like morning cuddles? Danny certainly wasn't complaining; in fact, he was thoroughly pleased that his partner was being so open about his want for attention. Steve wasn't someone who went seeking or asking for hugs or affection or reassurance, either physically or emotionally. "I want this to work, Danny," Steve murmured softly against his neck, almost in a whisper. Danny slid an arm over his shoulders.

"I know, babe."

"What if it doesn't?"

"Well," Danny scratched gently at Steve's back. The other man honest to God purred, and Danny smiled into his partner's hair. "If a…you know, if a dating relationship doesn't work out, we go back to what we were." He heard and felt the sigh against his chest and Danny tucked his chin down to look at Steve. "What was that?"

Steve hesitated before answering. "You really think we can go back to what we were before all of this with no problems?"

"You know, usually I'm the one coming up with the worst-case scenarios, but it looks like you're beating me to the punch." Danny neatly side stepped the question and felt Steve shift underneath him, but he didn't say anything, and it was kind of funny if Danny had pondered on that. When Steve didn't want to talk about what was truly bothering him, he tended to dance from one foot to the other – minutely, discreetly, but he did it. "You think if things go wrong with us romantically that that'll be the end?" Danny felt Steve wanting to say something, felt him take that breath and then hold it, as if second guessing what he was going to say. "Steve, babe, c'mon; what were you going to say?"

Steve shifted off of Danny and instead came to lie next to him, facing him on his side. "It was for you and Rachel, Danny. I remember when you first came to Hawaii; all you wanted was to leave, to take Rachel and Grace back to New Jersey, to get your family back. You were in love with her for so long even after the divorce was final, man." At Danny's encouraging nod, Steve went on. "All the fights you two had, the things you said to each other, Grace and Charlie having to hear it – I don't want that to be us if things go bad, Danno. I don't want things to go sideways, but if they do, I definitely don't ever want it to get to that level."

"It won't."

"Danny-"

"It won't, Steve." Danny's hand landed on Steve's face, effectively silencing the other man. "It won't. What you and I have is so different than what Rachel and I had. When me and Rachel started dating, we started off our relationship with a romantic interest. There wasn't any friendship before we started dating, we didn't even know each other through mutual friends. We had nothing to base our marriage on except our dating life, and when our marriage went up in smoke, so did everything else. I know," he wiggled closer until his nose was almost touching Steve's, "I know you're scared, babe. I am too, I won't lie. I've got my concerns too, about this, about some other stuff. But we have nine years of friendship and partnership going into this thing, alright? I mean, we've been through Gracie getting kidnapped, radiation poisoning, buildings falling on our heads, Russians swimming up on the beach, being trapped in elevators and we've gotten through all of it, right? What?" Danny squinted at Steve. "What's that look?"

Steve didn't bother to hide the massive eyeroll he gave. "You. You're really gonna compare getting stuck in an elevator and your claustrophobia acting up to you getting shot or all of us nearly dying in the middle of the Pacific from a virus, or crash landing after that undercover op went bad a few years back?"

"Phobias are irrational fears, Steven, it's not like I have a choice that I find being trapped in a four by five moving contraption held only by cabling infinitely more terrifying than staring at a red dot for hours and knowing that if I move, I'll be blown to pieces!"

"Okay; can I just say something please?" Steve held a finger up. "Before we continue this conversation, can you brush your teeth? Your morning breath is kinda killing the conversation and the mood."

" _My_ mor- lemme tell you something; I'm surprised the room hasn't started to warp, that the paint hasn't started to peel from the walls since you started talking. _My_ morning breath." But none the less, and grumbling the entire way, Danny rolled out of bed and into the bathroom, leaving Steve to ponder a conversation that they both knew wasn't over yet. Danny had his own concerns, that was true, it hadn't been a lie, but piling on his own fears to Steve's wasn't going to get them anywhere, so, for the moment, Danny decided to stow his own qualms away and consciously focus on only bringing up good, positive, reassuring reasons for taking this thing further, and if he could convince himself in the process that everything would be fine, then all the better for the both of them and their budding romance.

And if that meant Danny not telling Steve all of his worries all at once? Well, Danny would take that risk. For now.

**Hawaii Five-0**

The rest of the day consisted of Steve and Danny milling about their hotel room until it was time to head to Danny's parents for dinner and watching _Home Alone 2, Die Hard_ ("It is a Christmas movie, Danny"), and then Steve hitting the gym for a quick work out while Danny stepped into the shower. When Steve returned, he followed Danny's lead and was ready to leave in ten minutes, shower and all, much to Danny's humor.

"You can take the SEAL out of the Navy and all that."

The drive was fairly easy for an early Sunday afternoon. It was made all the better by the fact that Steve didn't have to flash his badge at morons who decided to cut them off and rage on them. As they pulled up to Danny's parents' house, Danny cleared his throat. "Before we go in there, I just want to tell you – my sisters are already there, and my mom kinda asked us about… you know," he rolled his hand in the air, heaving a sigh, "and just… just be aware that Bridget and Stella might try to interrogate you about this because my mother will not have kept her mouth shut."

"I'm a Navy SEAL, Danny," Steve laughed, shrugging off the warning and sticking his hands in the pockets of his coat. "I'm sure I can handle anything they throw at me."

As it turned out, Steve absolutely, positively, could not handle anything they threw at him. From the moment he and Danny walked into the house, Bridget and Stella descended upon Steve like a pair of chattery bats and drew him away, taking him downstairs into the den and sitting him down on the couch while Eddie just shook his head and excused himself to take a nap upstairs. Danny frowned as he hung his coat up in the closet and ambled into the kitchen where Clara was busily laying lasagna sheets over ricotta cheese, sauce, ground beef, and a host of herbs which Danny could smell as soon as he'd walked in the door.

"So. What'd you tell them?" Danny fixed his mother with a look. But Clara had bequeathed that particular expression to Danny, had perfected it over her years, and she merely smiled sweetly at her little boy. "What do you mean?" Her voice and face were as innocent as an angel's. Danny wasn't buying it for once second.

"Bridget and Stella have kidnapped Steve and have him downstairs in the den. They're peppering him with questions and very likely making him feel really uncomfortable, which, under most circumstances I'd find pretty funny and would have no sympathy for him what so ever, but since I know what they're asking him about, I am now asking _you_ , Ma… what'd you say to Bridge and Stell?"

"They're just excited to see Steve again, that's all, and you too – well, Bridget's happy to see Steve again; she said she never got to spend much time with him when she was in Hawaii those few years ago." Clara scooped some ricotta, sauce, and meat onto one lasagna sheet before adding another. "And she's told Stella a little about him, so it makes sense they'd both want to talk to him."

"Talk to him, not drag him down stairs to their lair and interrogate him like he's some kind of perp."

Clara paused, peering at Danny. "Something happened."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Ma, please."

"Well honey, that's the only reason you'd be worried about what they're asking him, is if something happened," Clara put the pasta and cheese down and wiped her hands on her apron while walking over to stand in front of her son to pull him into a hug. "So?"

"So what?"

"…what happened, Danny?" Clara was grinning, cheeks rosy with happiness and, Danny suspected, a little bit of wine, and he could only shake and duck his head as he stepped away from her. Some things were going to remain private, especially where his mother and sisters were involved. "How long's this gonna take? Steve and I came hungry."

"Only about 15 minutes. Why don't you set the table and then go rescue Steve from your sisters? You may as well tell them you two have taken your relationship to the next level anyways."

_"Ma!"_

Clara just motioned for him to get on with setting the table, and Danny had no other choice but to grab plates and silverware and put them at each place setting, his face as red and hot as it was when he'd had his first kiss when he was 13. Once finished, he took a few steadying breaths and ambled down stairs, hands in his pockets.

He almost wet himself laughing.

There was Steve, pressed between Stella and Bridget, all three of them on the couch and each woman asking questions, which made Steve turn his head to the right and then to the left to answer each sister properly. This was a man who had stared down murderers, rapists, and international terrorists.

And he looked utterly petrified.

"So, have you and Danny been out of the room much at all Steve?" Stella gave him her sweetest smile, but she was facing Danny, who could see her expression plain as day, and all he saw was a shark circling a helpless Menno… or in this case, baby seal. "Uh, yea, yea, we've been out of the room. You know, New York City is right across the Hudson. It's a nice view," Steve finished politely, shoving his hands between his thighs and forcing his right leg to stop bouncing.

"What's a nice view? The city, or- "

"Okay, that's enough," Danny clapped his hands together and preened in pride watching Stella jump in her seat. "You two can stop interrogating Steve now." Bridget at least was up and off the couch and in his arms within a few seconds, and Danny decided that that made her his favorite sister. As if she wasn't already. "Aw, come on, Bro, we were just asking Steve how things are back in Hawaii, catching up with him and all that. I hardly saw him at all when I came to visit two years ago."

"That is not the face of a man 'catching up', Bridge. That," Danny pointed at Steve, who was very clearly relieved that his partner had stepped in, "is the face of a man looking for a shovel so that he can dig his way out of this den, which you two have turned into your own rendition room. The only thing you're missing is the table and a bright spotlight."

"So protective, Danno," Stella slid off the couch and encircled her younger brother tightly. A muffled 'don't call me that' could be heard, but it was ignored as she whispered into his ear. "I can only remember you getting that defensive in certain, very specific situations."

Danny growled. "Stell. Cut it out."

"Fine, fine," Stella patted her brother on the arm and looked over her shoulder at Steve, grinning almost as if she were the Cheshire Cat himself before bounding up the steps. "I hope it wasn't that bad, Steve," Bridget smiled at him. "You should be happy I was here, actually."

Steve looked at her warily. "I should?"

"Definitely. You should've seen what Stella did to Rachel when Danny brought her around the first time."

The very fact that Danny's face became pinched and pained was more than enough for Steve to believe her, and he was indeed suddenly quite grateful that Danny's little sister had been there. The three of them stayed downstairs chatting quietly for a few more minutes, safely away from Stella and her own enhanced interrogation techniques, until Clara called down, telling them dinner was ready. Danny, wise to Stella's game, insisted that Steve sit between him and his father, knowing that the two would be able to strike up a conversation about any number of things, from serving as first responders to discussing football and other sports. As soon as everyone had sat down and started to eat, there wasn't a quiet moment at the table until they were finished. Talking, eating, drinking wine, telling stories, sharing loud laughs – this was how it had always been, how it always should've been. Danny's only regret was that Matty wasn't there to see it, experience it, be a part of it. But he refused to let that put a damper on the evening.

"So, what are you guys doing tomorrow for New Year's Eve?" Stella asked, looking between her brother and Steve. "Kevin's having a party with some of his co-workers and we've got a sitter for the night; you're both more than welcome to come hang out with us."

"Yea, and I'll be there too," Bridget nodded, encouraging them. "It'll be fun. We can show you how we celebrate on the East Coast, Steve; no hula parties here, but we have some pretty great drinking games if you're interested"

Steve grinned. It was easy to see why Bridget was Danny's favorite sister; she kept him young and on his toes. "We hadn't really discussed it yet, honestly." He raised an eyebrow in Danny's direction, silently asking him what he thought.

"We'll think about it," Danny shrugged.

"So that's a 'no'," Stella grinned back, laughing as she shook her head. "No worries, I get it. It's New Year's Eve, a special holiday filled with _special_ moments."

"Stella, leave your brother alone, please? And will you get up and get some more butter from the fridge?" Thank God for Clara Williams. As Stella rolled her eyes and marched for the fridge, knowing full well while she was chosen for the chore, Danny sent his mother a silent, grateful look and dipped his hand below the table, making to wipe it on his napkin but secretly giving Steve's leg a gentle squeeze. A foot being tapped against his by Steve was Danny's assurance that his partner was okay, and once Stella sat back down at the table, fresh butter stick on the tray, conversation resumed as if it hadn't stopped until there were clean plates all around.

"Danny, I'll pack some lasagna up so that you and Steve can take some with you back to your room," Clara stood up, taking her plate, Bridget's, and Stella's with her as Steve rose, following her lead. Ordinarily, Danny would've told Steve to leave it, that he was a guest, but Danny also knew that Steve may want the breather, and so he merely sat back and allowed his partner to gather up the rest of the plates and take them into the kitchen, where Clara was already rinsing off the dishes.

"Oh, Steven, honey, you don't have to bring me anything. You can go back out to the table with Danny and catch up with the girls and Eddie." Oddly enough, Clara's dulcet bambi like voice was rather soothing to Steve's nerves at the moment, so he shook his head and put the plates down on the counter next to the sink. Clara only smiled and nodded her head. "It can get to be a bit much out there for me too, sometimes. Come on," she gestured to him to stand on her right side. "I'll wash, you dry."

"You know," she continued, "even before I met you, Danny used to call home and complain about you all the time," Clara had the good grace to keep her voice down as she washed. "The first time he told me about you, he said he had a crazy partner that had an unhealthy obsession with all things lead, especially if it came flying out of a metal tube regardless of where it landed afterwards." She giggled. "That was the time he told me you'd gotten him shot."

"I'm – uh, I'm really sorry about that, actually," Steve mumbled, feeling his face grow hot.

"I'll admit I was a little worried after that, but every week or so, Danny would call with a new story about you and the work you and your team were doing, how important it was, but it wasn't as important as when he'd tell me that you were there for him all the time, no matter what. What you did for him and Grace when you two first met? Not just the tickets, but getting the Governor to play hardball with Rachel?"

"He told you about that?" Steve was outwardly surprised but smiling. "You know he never even told me how he found out it was me."

"He said something about eliminating suspects and coming up with the natural one being you. My little boy is a fantastic detective after all, isn't he?"

Steve couldn't help the soft look on his face. "He is," he agreed, taking a dish and drying it.

"He's always been good at figuring things out – at figuring people out," Clara continued, soaping up silverware and glasses, "he was never satisfied with just the surface. He always had to claw his way underneath, to the root of everything. He's never comfortable if he doesn't feel he has all the information, always on edge, constantly waiting for something bad to happen if he feels he's being left out of the loop or something." She sighed quietly. "He gets that from his father, you know? Eddie used to come home after a hard day, or a bad one especially if someone had gotten hurt or if they'd lost someone, and he'd always say, "I wish I'd known about this" or "I wish I'd known about that", as if him knowing someone had a headache would have made a difference when they had to answer a call."

"Yea, Danny… he definitely doesn't like being the last to know things." Steve glanced over his shoulder through the door way at the dinner table. Danny, his sisters, and Eddie were still sitting around it engaged in what seemed to be a boisterous conversation.

"Since he moved to Hawaii though, since he met you and joined Five-0, he hasn't been quite so negative. I don't know if he told you what he was like after Rachel left him, but I was really afraid he was… that he was going to do something, you know?" Clara looked at Steve, who nodded his head minutely. He did know. "Yea, he told me a little, but not a lot."

"Then Rachel took Grace and moved 6,000 miles away, taking my son and my granddaughter away from us, and he was so miserable, Steve. He was so alone, and lonely, and depressed. And then Five-0 came along, and you made him your partner, and bit by bit, his phone calls weren't so bitter or angry, and he stopped complaining so much – of course it's Danny, so he'll always whine about something," she laughed as she handed Steve another dish to dry. "But almost ten years later, he's happy. He's the Danny I remember before Rachel divorced him, and I think I – we – have you to thank for a lot of that."

Steve took a breath. "It's not all me, Clara," he begged off, "you know, Danny has lots of friends, the rest of our Ohana-"

"But it's mainly you." Clara turned and slid both hands onto Steve's cheeks. "I know my son, Steve. I know him when he's furious and sad, I know him when he's happy, and I know him when he's head over heels in love." She ignored the man's fast flushing face. "I know you're both finding your way with each other right now, and I want you to know that no matter what happens, I love you both very much. I know the girls are teasing you a little bit and that Eddie hasn't said much either way, but even if Danny hasn't said it yet, I know he loves you – and in this family, that is good enough for us. It's a little unexpected," she giggled again, that light, airy laugh that made her sound flirtatious and 20 years younger, "but if _we're_ surprised by it, then I know when you two must have realized what you were feeling, it must have hit you like a ton of bricks."

Steve could only mutter a dumb sounding 'yea' in answer to the woman's soliloquy. It was a lot to take in; Steve couldn't deny the yearning he had to have this conversation with his own mother. But that was impossible. He actually missed the perfumed warmth of Clara's hands as they slid away from his cheeks. "Now. You're nice and tall – reach up into the cupboard and get some Tupperware down for me so I can pack up some left overs for you and Danny to take with you." And that was it. She patted his shoulder and stepped back towards the food prep counter where the rest of the lasagna sat, seemingly unaware of the relief she'd given Steve just by saying what she'd said. Danny's family would be supportive – were supportive now – of Steve and Danny, and whatever decision about their relationship they made. Shaking his head, he tugged a container down as requested and placed it on the counter. "Mrs. Williams?"

"Steven, really," the older woman gave him a look that was understanding and chiding all at once, "the neighborhood children call me Mrs. Williams – to you, it's Clara, or even 'Mom' if you want."

The man grinned and stepped forward, pulling her into a hug, mindful of his strength – the last thing he wanted to do was break Danny's mom. "Thank you," was all he said, and it seemed that was all he needed to say. Clara only nodded, sighing forlornly. "It's times like these that I wish I were a few years younger." She laughed as Steve stepped back, ears instantly turning pink. "Just teasing. Now, you go on out into the dining room; I'll bring out dessert."

Like a good boy, Steve did as he was told.

**Hawaii Five-0**

It was late before the boys finally left Danny's parents' house, laden down with lasagna, bread, salad, and extra pie as only a good mother could force on two 'growing boys' as she called them. Danny reminded her that they were indeed turning 43 the next year, but she just waved him out the door, a serene smile on her face. "You'll always be my growing boy, honey; and you too, Steve. Call us when you get in!"

Now, as they were driving back to the hotel, Steve let Clara's words wash over him. It was a strange feeling, to have support from a family unit. Was this what Danny had grown up with his entire life? Of course it was, it was written all over his partner, showed in how Danny raised his own two children, in how he insisted on Steve being in Grace and Charlie's lives. Having a family was an effortless thing for Danny, having support expected rather than hoped for.

"You okay?"

"Yea, Danny," Steve nodded, "I'm okay. I feel like a stuffed turkey, but I'm okay." He grinned and patted his stomach. "I might take a swim tonight – pretty sure your mom made me put on twenty pounds from dinner."

"I don't think my mom made you take seconds on the lasagna," Danny chuckled, turning into the hotel parking lot and finding a spot. Steve grabbed the bag of food and Danny took the Hardrock shirt Steve had bought for him earlier in the day, and they made their way up to the room, each man gratefully falling on to his bed, happily laying like sloths. After about ten minutes, Danny's muffled voice filtered through the pillow. "You going to swim?"

"I don't think I could do a crawl stroke right now if I tried," Steve admitted.

"Not even to come over here?"

Steve paused, giving that the consideration it was due. "Why don't you come over here?"

"Because I asked you first."

The SEAL gave a good-natured groan of imposition but none the less crawled (yes, literally crawled, much to Danny's amusement) to his partner's bed, laying down beside him with about a foot of space in between them. "Better?"

Danny nodded and closed his eyes, a soft smile on his lips. Steve decided that he liked this side of Danny, this side that was open and seeking and welcome of affection, that told Steve it was okay to lay next to him, to be beside him, that it wasn't asking too much. He studied Danny's face, so blissfully content with where he was currently. Steve liked it. He wanted to see it as often as possible.

"Why're you staring?" Blue eyes blinked at him, crows feet playfully crinkling at the edges and adding to the blonde's easy-going, almost happy look. Steve shrugged. "I'm happy," he answered quietly.

"Yea?"

"Mhm."

"…Talking to my mom for that long actually made you happy?"

"Yes, Daniel, it actually did."

"Why?"

"She said no matter what we decided to do that she and your family would support us." Steve kicked his shoes off; if he were at home, he'd pick them up and put them away, but that would mean leaving Danny's side and Steve, quite frankly, just didn't feel like doing that. "That was… nice, you know?" He felt Danny's hand slip towards his, felt him tangle his fingers into Steve's, and asked gently, "Were you afraid they wouldn't?"

"A little? No, I'm not sure." Steve squirmed a little closer towards Danny. "My father's dead, Doris comes and goes as she pleases…"

"And Joe?" Danny pressed lightly, rubbing a thumb along Steve's hand, and he saw it, saw Steve preparing to make light of his question, of what Joe's opinion really meant to him. Danny wouldn't be pushed off so easily. "I know what he thinks means a lot to you, babe; don't pretend otherwise, okay?"

"I haven't told him," Steve admitted.

"I didn't think you had." Danny searched the other man's face, making sure his voice was kind when he asked, "are you afraid to?" He gave Steve the time he needed to answer, knowing it was an awkward, difficult question. He was just about to tell his partner he didn't have to answer when Steve spoke. "Yes and no. I don't think he'd have a problem that it's two men, but that it's two men on the same team."

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell had its faults," Steve continued, watching as Danny's thumb slowly comforted his hand non-stop, "no doubt that some people in D.C. and the military brass had it put in place because they just didn't like gay people. But for all of that, the fact remains that if you put a bunch of people in a platoon together who are in relationships and sleeping with each other, and then put them all in a combat zone, the odds of them coming out of it alive are decreased, and that's the case no matter if its men or women." Danny was nodding his head along, understanding exactly what Steve was saying.

"Joe'll think that we'll be putting ourselves in more danger if we start something, yea?"

"Yea," Steve swallowed. "I'm afraid he'll try to talk me out of it – out of us. And I'll tell him no, and he'll be disappointed. I don't…"

"Want to disappoint him?" Danny finished, and Steve hated it, but he nodded. "I know he's done a lot of lying in the past, Danny. I know he'll never tell me everything; asking him a question is like playing roulette – even if I hit the right number, it's blacks or reds that he'd give me a straight answer. But he's… you know, he's…"

"Really the only father you've had since you were 16. I get it, Steve. I do." Danny shifted closer towards his partner, not breaking his hold on Steve's hand, his voice barely above a whisper. "I just need to know if you still want to move forward before we get any further into this thing, you know? I gotta know because when I sit down and tell Grace and Charlie that me and their Uncle Steve are giving this a try, they have to know that we're solid, Grace especially. I don't want to put her through another break up where she has to lose someone that she looks at like a second dad. She's seen too much, Steve, you know? Way too much, and a lot of that is my fault, and I can't do that to her again."

Steve almost recoiled. Almost. "I'd never do anything to hurt her, Danny; her or Charlie." His voice was hoarse with emotion, and Danny shushed him, nuzzling his nose against Steve's own. "I know, babe. I know. But think about it, okay? Really think about it, about what you want – not what Joe wants or even what I want – just what you want. You're allowed to want what you want, Steven. You are; okay?"

Danny wished John and Doris McGarrett were alive and around, respectively, so that he could strangle them each for the look of doubt and confusion that was now on Steve's face, for them abandoning their kids, for not bothering to teach their son and daughter that they were worthy of love and affection, of someone staying for them just because they were _them_.

"Danny…are you having… I mean, do you not want-"

"I do, babe, I do. Very much, I want. I want this very much," Danny nuzzled him again reassuringly, "but when you love someone, it's not about what just one person wants. It has to be about what they _both_ want – you're part of the both, Steve, so it matters just as much what you want." He watched Steve watching him, and Danny realized that he was being studied. Steve was analyzing and assessing him as if he were a high value target, and Danny let him, waited him out. When Steve lifted his body and pressed Danny gently into the mattress on his back, Danny didn't fight it. Instead, he tightened his grip on his partner's hand, his right to Steve's left, and settled his other arm loosely around the SEAL's lower back as Steve hovered over him.

The first brush of Steve's lips against Danny's was intimate, shy, unpracticed, even slightly uncertain, but soft pecks turned longer and fuller, and Danny lifted a leg and wrapped it around one of Steve's, hauling him closer, and suddenly uncertain turned into very sure. Steve's initial nervousness rerouted into carefully contained desire as his lips left Danny's to kiss a trail down his cheek, to his ear, and the lining of his jaw, following the natural path until Steve had marked the opposite side of Danny's face with his mouth in just the same way. Only then did Steve pull back and look down at the man partially pinned beneath him.

Danny, whose eyes were a dark blue, half lidded, blinking slowly up at him, whose lips were pink and parted and waiting for the match they'd found to press back against and fumble with. Danny, whose fingers were softly caressing Steve's lower back, just at the base of the spine, which sent sparks of warmth though out Steve's body. "I want this," Steve breathed, so quietly that Danny had to strain to hear him over the beating of his own heart. "I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of second guessing myself. I'm tired of being alone and being afraid I always will be – I don't want that, Danny. I want you – all of you; your crazy family in Jersey, the kids, Five-0, your bad knee, your claustrophobia, all of it. I've gotten this far with you, Danno," Steve dropped a kiss at the base of the other man's throat. "I couldn't go back now if I tried."

Danny let out a breath and lifted his head, pressing a firm, grateful kiss against Steve's forehead while tightening his limbs around his partner's body, his own fears abating just a bit as he lay safe and warm underneath Steve's body. "Okay, babe," he whispered softly, carding fingers through short brown hair. "Okay."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny swallowed, guilt beginning to prick at his conscience. Up until now, he’d been the certain one, the steadfast one, the one to reassure Steve when his fears and doubts came to a head these past few days, stowing away his own worries in favor of wanting to believe everything would be fine, wanting to hold onto that optimism that Steve seemed to be gaining more and more about them and their future. But maybe, instead of playing the part of the comforter, Danny should have been a little more honest about what his feelings were as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Author’s Note:_ It’s New Year’s Eve for the guys! What mischief will they get into? But before the fun, a bit of talking, a lot of coming clean.
> 
>  
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work._

**Hawaii Five-0**

Morning found Danny waking up to Steve's arm flung about his chest and his nose burrowed in between Danny's shoulder and the pillow they were sharing. Danny couldn't remember when they'd finally fallen asleep. They'd continued to talk until at least 2:00am, talk and whisper and explore not just their pasts and possible future, but their fears, and yes, each other's bodies just a little. The memory of Steve placing a soft kiss over Danny's bare chest explained why their shirts were off, and, as the blonde turned his head just a bit to look over at his partner, why there was a small blotch of bluish/purple right below Steve's ear. Danny felt his member twitch at the sight (not to mention the wanton gasp Steve had made when Danny had suckled that little patch of skin) and immediately adjusted himself; he was already half-hard thanks to the relationship male biology had with the morning hour. He and Steve had managed to calm down before things had gotten to the point of no return last night, but knowing what he knew now about the SEAL, that he was gentle and soft and thorough in his loving, would make it very difficult to do so again.

Steve stirred beside him and Danny smiled, turning on his side just a bit so that he could watch Steve wake up. "Morning, babe," he greeted, watching the other man's hazel eyes blink away the sleep and confusion and focus on Danny. Steve's face was like a soft oil lamp slowly coming aglow, a smile brightening the room as he rolled closer towards Danny and grunted a 'good morning' of his own. Danny chuckled.

"Steve McGarrett: SEAL, Five-0 Commander, and Cuddler in Bed."

In response, Steve practically crowded himself on top of Danny and squeezed as best as he was able while nuzzling into the man's neck, sneaking kisses where he could.

"Get off, you lug! You know you weigh a ton!" Danny gasped in laughter, but for all his vocal protesting, his arms were telling a different story as they wound around Steve's body and held him close. "You know, if anything has surprised me about us, it's this with you."

"This with me what?" Steve murmured.

"Well, once you get comfortable with who you're in bed with, you kind of let your shields down a little bit, you know?" Danny planted a kiss in Steve's hair. "Affectionate, playful – not that I ever really thought too much about that before, but it's… it's nice."

Steve lifted his head, giving the man beneath him a disbelieving eyebrow. "You never thought about what I'd be like in bed before?" Danny coughed, attempting to stutter out an answer. Steve just waited, like an infinitely patient interrogator waiting for his mark to spill the beans. "Well I didn't exactly say that."

"Uh huh."

"I said that I'd never really thought about you being affectionate or playful in bed before."

"So, what _did_ you think about, Danno?" Steve lowered his chin on Danny's bare torso and simply rested there. Waiting. Watching as Danny flushed a bit under the pressure. "You're a jerk," he finally mumbled, to which Steve just laughed, shaking his head against Danny's chest. "You probably thought I was all dominant and controlling like a-"

"Like a giant caveman? Yea," Danny scratched at his stubble before transferring his hand to the side of Steve's head and scratching through his hair, "I might have thought that a time or two. I was pleasantly surprised last night, though."

"We didn't get very far," Steve pointed out.

"No, we didn't," Danny granted.

"I'd like to point out for the record that when you took your shirt off, I did not blanch or freak out."

"No, you didn't," Danny smiled, going quiet as he looked at the man above him, casually stroking his fingers through his hair as he zoned out in thought.

"Danny?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you nervous about when we get there?" Steve laid another kiss on his partner's chest.

"Yea, babe," Danny's voice was soft as he came clean. "I am."

"Is that why you don't want to go any further? That you'll freak out when we do?"

"That's part of it. I guess I'm a little worried about _what_ we'll do, exactly," Danny cleared his throat, "specifically who will do what and to whom."

"Danny, look at me." Steve slid a hand towards his partner's and grasped it tightly. "We will not do anything that the other doesn't want to do. That includes the whole…penetration thing, if that's what you're worried about. If all we wind up doing is hand jobs and blowjobs, the occasional rimming? That's more than fine by me. I will never, never press you for anything you don't want to do or give. Understand?"

"I know that. That's not what I'm worried about."

Steve tilted his head to the side. "What is it then?" He watched Danny struggle with how to answer, indecision written all over his fair face as he battled between responses, responses that, Steve knew, Danny thought would hurt his partner. "Just tell me," Steve coaxed.

"I really… uh, Steve I really like, you know – sex. Specifically, penetrative sex… where I'm doing the penetrating," Danny cleared his throat nervously. "And I'm going to assume that you, being, you know, a guy, do too. And like me, you're probably a little leery of being the one on the um... on the receiving end."

Steve nodded his head and planted another kiss on Danny's chest. "We'll figure it out."

"Steve…"

"We'll figure it out, Danny. We will. Just like we figured out how to work together, how to keep Grace on the island, how to remodel Charlie's room, and how we figured out everything with the restaurant, we will figure this out." Steve was bound and determined, that much was clear. "Danny, I promise you… I'm going to do everything I can to make you happy in every single aspect of this relationship. If that means I bottom so you can get what you need, then I'm happy to do that. It won't be over night, I know that, but it'll be something we work up to."

"What about what you need, Steve?" Danny pushed up on his elbows and then sat up fully, taking Steve's face in his hands. "What'd I tell you last night, huh? What we _both_ want matters. I don't want you to do what you've done so many times in the past, Steve; I don't want you to neglect yourself to placate me or… or feel like you have to do something or be something to _keep_ me."

Steve blinked, absolutely befuddled. "Then what are – I don't understand, then what are we talking about?"

"What do you mean what're we talking about?"

"You and your – you said you needed things a certain way, Danny, you said that you liked to do certain things in bed, and it sounded like you really, really needed those things in order to be happy and that if you didn't get them you – you know, you… wouldn't be." Steve slumped forward a bit, but tension still lined his shoulders.

Understanding, like the morning sun, dawned on the detective's face. "No, babe," Danny stroked the apples of Steve's cheeks gently. "That's not what I meant. I'm not going to leave you if you don't let me fuck you, okay? I'm not." He tugged his partner's face forward until Steve's forehead was leaning against his, until they were breathing the same air, breathing in each other's scent until Steve pushed his nose against Danny's. Danny could only grin at that. "Picking up my habits?"

"Seems like a good habit to me," Steve sighed happily, a smile on his face, as if all was now right with the world that he'd performed that one little affectionate nudge. "We'll figure it out, Danny. I promise. What you want matters too, you know? And sometimes I think you need to be reminded of that."

"Maybe I do," Danny conceded. "We got other problems though."

"Yea? What's that?"

"We gotta figure out what we're doing tonight."

**Hawaii Five-0**

In the end, Danny called Bridget and passed on he and Steve joining her and Stella for the party. "We'll find something to do around here. We're in downtown Newark, we'll be alright."

_"Well,"_ Danny heard Bridget sigh into the phone, _"I was looking forward to seeing Steve again, but if that's what you guys want to do then no worries. I can come to you guys for lunch before you leave, sound good?"_

"Yea, that shouldn't be a problem," Danny raised his eyebrows and looked over at Steve, mouthing 'lunch with Bridget?', to which his partner nodded his head. "Yea, he says sure."

_"Already checking with each other to make sure your schedules are in sync, eh?"_

Danny groaned.

_"I don't mind, I think it's cute,"_ Bridget laughed into the phone. _"Seriously, Danny, I haven't seen or heard you this relaxed in a long time. Dare I say it, you're happy. I like him for you."_

Danny glanced over his shoulder at Steve who was busy organizing the living room part of their suite. "Yea, me too."

_"As much as you scammed on girls though, I never thought you'd turn out gay."_

"Well, I don't think I'm all the way there, Bridge," Danny chuckled into the phone, "I think it's just this particular animal that gets me."

_"Fair enough. I'll call you sometime tomorrow afternoon – oh and Danny?"_

"Yea?"

_"Make sure you get that kiss at midnight."_

"Bye, Bridge," Danny ended the call and tossed his phone on the couch. "Bridge says hi."

"That's all she said? Sounded like she said a little more than that," Steve grinned. Danny groaned. "You're welcome to call her back if you'd like to continue the conversation." He chewed his lip a bit and watched the other man continue to tidy up.

"Why're you pouting?"

"Hm?" Danny looked up at him.

"You're pouting," Steve pointed out. "Why are you pouting?"

"I am not pouting."

"Yes, you are."

"No," Danny shook his head, "no, I'm not."

"What'd she say?"

"I just, you know," Danny threw away a casual hand gesture, "she just said she'd never peg me for being gay and it just…"

"Hit you kind of weird?"

"Yea." Danny looked at him. "Is that bad?"

"Why would that be bad?"

"I – you know, obviously I got nothing against homosexuals, especially considering I now am one on some level," he dragged a hand through the top of his hair. "I don't know, it's just weird being referred to as that when it's not like I'm checking out every guy that walks by me on the street or that I pass in the mall, or checking any of them out, really; you know what I mean?"

Steve shrugged. "Neither do I. Honestly, Danny, if I didn't know you and I saw you on the street, I might think you were attractive, but nothing more than that. I don't love you because you're a guy. I love you because you're you."

The admission, though he already knew it, warmed Danny from the inside out. "Back at ya, babe," he ambled around to stand in front of the couch, sliding his hands into his pockets. "I guess we better get it straight though, how we define ourselves. Charlie won't know enough to ask, but Grace will. She'll want to know."

"We came here to talk, right?" Steve slid across the room before settling on the couch and looking up at Danny. The latter nodded. "We did."

"You know, in the Navy, when friends of mine needed to get off, needed that receiving end of 'helping another guy out', they did the deed, and it was done." Steve scratched at his morning stubble a bit. "It wasn't talked about, obviously, but we all knew it was happening. Sometimes it was before a mission, sometimes after, but there's only so long a guy can stay celibate in that kind of environment, you know? We needed release."

"Did you… ever..." Danny rolled his hand around in the air and noticed that Steve shifted just a bit in his seat at the question.

"Once," the SEAL admitted. "I was on the receiving end. I was a fresh SEAL, it was only my second mission, a buddy of mine saw I was stressed, too keyed up. With the kinds of operations SEAL's do, that's dangerous… so, he offered to help a brother out." He scratched at his jaw again. "I uh, I never did it again after that."

"Why?" Danny prompted.

"Because it didn't feel right – first, it was a guy; I was straight. Second, it was too impersonal. That's not – it wasn't how I was raised, you know? Third, my career meant too much to me to risk getting caught and being dishonorably discharged all for a quickie with another guy to take the pressure off." The corner of Steve's lip lifted just a bit. "So, after that, I just took care of it myself."

Danny frowned in his way as he mulled over Steve's words. "I'm sorry, not that I don't appreciate you sharing that with me, because I do, but what does that have to do with whether or not we're gay?"

"Because, Danny, for me, where I was, doing what I was doing? Being gay or acting on those desires was something to worry about. It had real life consequences. But it's not like that anymore. Honestly, I'm more concerned with what being in a relationship with me will mean for you and the kids than I am about what someone thinks about our orientation." Steve inched closer to where Danny still stood in front of the sofa, looking up at him. "If you want to define it, then we'll figure out a way to define it. But I really don't think we need to. Like you said, Charlie will just accept it – he won't know any different. And I don't think you need to worry about Grace. She's your kid, Danny, do you really think she's going to worry over whether or not her father is sleeping with a guy? Because honestly, I think she's going to be more thrown that it's her Uncle Steve getting it on with her dad."

"Please, can you not say that, okay? That's just…" Danny actually shivered, and Steve couldn't help but laugh, to which Danny just muttered that he was an animal. "If they have questions, you're sitting down with me to answer them." Danny nudged Steve's forehead with his finger. "Welcome to parenthood, babe."

The smile Steve gave was blinding. "Parenthood?"

"Yea, Steven, parenthood." Danny stuck his hand back in his pocket. "You've known Charlie most of his life, you've known Grace half of hers. They love you," he cleared his throat, which was suddenly tight for some reason, "and I love you too, and I trust you with them, so, yea. Parenthood." Steve's eyes were suspiciously glassy, and Danny watched him swallow a few times before blinking his eyes rapidly, long lashes fluttering and catching one or two tear drops as they did. When Steve managed to speak, his voice was hoarse, soft. "I never thought – you don't know what that means to me, Danny."

"Got a bit of an idea, Steve," Danny leaned down, offering him a gentle kiss and pulling away before Steve pulled him back. Losing his balance, Danny fell right on Steve and the latter simply went with the flow, stretching out on the couch and holding the blonde's face in his hands as he kissed him back. But soon, Danny's lips weren't enough, and Steve's hands were migrating, one to the back of his partner's neck, the other to the small of his back, inching underneath the shirt he wore. The skin to skin contact made Danny buck against his partner, and Steve let out a soft groan, responding by hooking his outside leg over Danny's, locking him into place and slowly grinding up against him. Danny's head fell against Steve's shoulder, a whimper escaping into the latter's neck.

"Jesus, Steve," Danny breathed, doing his level best to return some of the pleasure he was being so freely given, but with Steve pinning him the way that he was, Danny could only undulate down against his partner, feeling his and Steve's members stiffen with each brush. "I – babe, please –"

Steve paused, tugging Danny's face way just a bit to look at him carefully. There was no denying what Steve wanted, Danny could tell he was ready, more than ready, to make things a little more physical. And yet…

And yet.

"I'm sorry," Danny groaned, dropping his head against Steve's chest and taking a deep breath. "I – not on a couch, in the middle of the day, coming in our pants, you know?" He felt Steve's head fall back against the arm rest, felt the man's limbs tighten around him a little bit more, but other than that, he didn't move. "I just…"

"You don't have to explain, Danny; it's okay," Steve's hand trailed through his blonde hair, softly scratching the buzzed sides of his head. "We wait. Simple as that."

"How are you so calm about this?" Danny lifted his head to look at the other man. "How – why are you so comfortable with the idea of sex with another man?"

"I don't know," Steve shrugged, continuing to sooth Danny's body with his hands, "I guess because I don't think of it as having sex with another man. It's you, Danny. You could look like that thing from _Enemy Mine_ and I'd probably still want you."

Danny cocked an eyebrow at that. Steve snickered. "Okay, fine, maybe not. But… it's you, Danny. You don't scare me," he cleared his throat, "and it wouldn't be just sex to me. I'd never be able to just have 'sex' with you."

"I didn't mean it like that," Danny murmured.

"I know you didn't. It's something I need you to know and it's something I think you need to know too. Just like I know you'll never abandon me? You need to know that it'll never be just a good time for me. I know all the stuff I said the other day about being afraid of us not working out, but I don't have to be afraid because this will work, Danny; we will work."

Danny swallowed, guilt beginning to prick at his conscience. Up until now, he'd been the certain one, the steadfast one, the one to reassure Steve when his fears and doubts came to a head these past few days, stowing away his own worries in favor of wanting to believe everything would be fine, wanting to hold onto that optimism that Steve seemed to be gaining more and more about them and their future. But maybe, instead of playing the part of the comforter, Danny should have been a little more honest about what his feelings were as well.

Well, better late than never, he supposed. He took a breath.

"That's why."

Danny's whispered confession sounded like a bullhorn in the quiet room. Steve only gazed at him, still wrapped around the detective, hand on his lower back, fingers trailing through his hair, leg over Danny's and pinning him to the SEAL. "You're afraid we won't work."

"I'm… afraid of what will happen if we don't."

Steve squeezed him tightly. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

Danny groaned, knowing his answer was going to sound absolutely stupid. "I didn't want to add to the concerns you already had. And I really, really do want this to work and if I just piled on to what you were already saying and thinking and feeling, I was afraid… you know, I was afraid that we'd just…" he released a shaky sigh, leaving the rest unsaid. "So, I just didn't. I know how I get when something amazing happens to me; I look for all the things that'll go wrong, and I really didn't want to do that with you, believe that we'd end up like me and Rachel did and kill this thing before it even got started. So, I didn't let myself do that, and every time you said you were scared or nervous about us or had concerns, I forced myself to not agree with you, to reassure you. I thought maybe if I just kept doing that, all the fears would just go away." Danny took a deep breath, settling his head back against Steve's chest. "I'm sorry, babe."

They laid with each other in the quiet of the room until Steve nuzzled Danny's hair. "And you said this wouldn't work if we weren't honest with each other." But there was no malice in the man's voice, only affection and understanding. If there was anyone on the planet who understood not expressing fears or emotions, it was Steve McGarrett. He wouldn't hold it against Danny, not ever. "What do you think will happen if we don't?"

"Work out?"

"Yea."

"I lose the most important person to me after my kids," Danny swallowed, "either I or you lose our jobs, maybe both. I likely lose friends, you do too. I've been through that before, Steve; I know how it goes." He watched Steve take it all in, wondered if he'd made a mistake in telling him his deepest fear, hoped to God that he didn't.

"I'm scared too, Danny." Steve hugged the other man tightly to him. "I know I just said I didn't have to be, but I am. I lose a lot too if we don't work out – honestly, the one thing I think scares me more than anything is not seeing Grace or Charlie. But I am also so sure of you, I'm so sure of what you feel and your heart and your words – everything about you, Danno. I've never had that before, not even with Catherine. And I know you're not Catherine – you never will be. You'll never up and leave, or join the CIA without telling me, or cover up something someone's done to spare my feelings." He leaned forward just a bit to nudge the line of Danny's hair. "And I'm not Rachel. I'm never going to resent you for your job, or run off with somebody else, or ever try to keep your kids from you, or you from your kids. I know you're the 'glass is half empty' kind of guy, Danny. I know it's hard for you to see anything else but what could go wrong, but you were right the other night when you said that what we have, our relationship, whether it's this or just friends, is so much different than what you and Rachel had, and for that matter, what I had with Cath. If there's one thing I'm absolutely sure of in this world, it's that you and me? We can't go wrong. We never have."

Danny breathed quietly, listening to the rumble of Steve's voice beneath a firm chest as he perched his chin on a pec. "That's the most words I've heard you say since I've known you."

Steve grinned. "I did ask if we could talk while we were here."

"Yea, I'm just… surprised you're actually, you know, talking." His partner hummed beneath him and laid back, still holding Danny tightly to him.

"Well…New Year and all that."

**Hawaii Five-0**

Steve and Danny's talk on the couch wound up turning into a nap, and when Danny awoke, it was to Steve watching _Ocean's 11_ and bebop jazz softly filling the room while Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan ran through the list of their friends to contact in order to help them knock over the Bellagio.

"This is a good movie," Danny lifted his head a bit, rubbed his nose on Steve's chest, and then settled back down. "That guy's laugh is creepy though." On the screen, Turk Malloy had just run over his brother's toy racing truck and clearly thought it was the funniest thing in his life up to that point.

"You kinda look like him a bit." Steve cocked his head to the side, studying the blond on screen before it cut to another member of the team being recruited.

"You sayin' I look like I walked out of a trailer park?"

"No, I'm saying you're both short, stocky, with blonde hair and blue eyes and the same facial structure."

They continued to watch the movie and make comments here and there through out until the end, where Danny walked out of the prison having completed his stint for violating his parole and Rusty drove both Danny and his newly reconciled wife, Tess, away.

"You know, that'd be an interesting life, a thief," Danny scratched his nose. "I think I'd make a pretty decent Rusty."

"Yea? Who'd I be?"

"Oh, that's easy, babe; you're Basher. All those explosives, all you're knowledge about bombs? Your love affair with grenades? Definitely Basher."

Steve didn't look convinced. "I can't do an English accent."

"So?"

"So, I can't pull off Basher if I can't even sound like him; I think I'd make a better Danny Ocean."

"Okay," Danny hauled himself up, ignoring the 'ooof' of protest Steve gave as he straddled his stomach. "A passable tactician, you definitely are, babe-"

_"Passable?!"_

Danny continued on, ignoring his partner's indignant sputtering. "But the whole suave with infinite patience, thing?"

"I can be suave and patient!"

Danny just laughed at that and slid off of Steve. "I can, Danny!" Steve sat up, frowning at the television which had moved on to _Ocean's 12_.

"It's past 4:00pm, babe; you want to eat at the restaurant for dinner?"

Ah, food. The one thing to distract any male's thought process, regardless of the insult his pride had just suffered. "Sure. What are we doing for tonight?"

But Danny just smiled and shook his head. "Go, take one of your illegal three-minute showers so I can take the more socially acceptable 15-minute shower after you." He ignored the suspicious glare Steve directed at him and instead shooed him towards the bathroom. Once he heard the shower running, Danny made for the room phone and dialed the gift shop.

"Yea, hi, you guys got any gloves down there? Great, can you gimme two pairs of the thickest gloves you got and charge it to my room, please?"

_"Of course, Sir. We can have them delivered to you shortly."_

"Uh, that's uh… that's no good, see we're about to leave for dinner and we won't be here."

_"Not a problem, Sir; we'll simply leave them in one of our delivery packages outside your door."_

Danny blinked. "No one will take it?"

_"Even on the off chance someone does, we have an excellent security system in place with cameras in all of our hallways,"_ the clerk assured him. _"Not only would we be able to verify the package being stolen, we would simply replace the gloves at no charge."_

"Oh, well. Uh, I guess send them up after 5:00pm, then."

_"Will do, Sir. Enjoy your evening."_


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Uh, Danny?”
> 
> “Yea.”
> 
> “This a phone number.”
> 
> “Uh-huh.”
> 
> Steve’s eyes held Danny’s just over the edge of scrap in his hand. “Is it – I mean, I think it’s our server’s phone number.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Author's Note_ : Dinner, movies, and then...?
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work._

**Hawaii Five-0**

It seemed Steve and Danny were on the same wave length as they entered the restaurant and were led to their table. Each had decided on the quintessential casual first date look: a pair of slacks, a collared shirt, and a dress coat. While Steve had gone with a grey suit and black shirt ensemble, Danny had elected for a lighter look with khaki slacks and jacket along with a white button down. They each sat down after shrugging off their jackets and perching them on the backs of their chairs, and Steve took the drink menu from their host, looking it over. "Jersey's gotta get Longboards."

"If they sold longboards here, a bottle would be $10.00 a pop, babe, probably more." Danny unrolled his napkin and set out his silverware. "Shipping costs, taxes – that wouldn't even be a domestic beer, they'd probably say it was imported."

"You know Hawaii is a state, Danny, right? The fiftieth? 5-0? Ring a bell?"

"Wasn't my idea," Danny chuckled at the indignant look on his partner's face. "Well it wasn't! I wasn't even born yet when it became a state, how could it have been my idea?"

"That's dumb," Steve handed over the drink menu as the server came forward and took the liberty of ordering both his and Danny's drinks along with an appetizer. When the server left the table, Danny eyed him from over the top of the drink list. "Should I even look at the actual menu or are you gonna order for me?"

Steve grinned. "Well, you are my date."

"Steven, if that's your way of saying I'm the girl in this relationship, you are going to force me to prove you very, very wrong later."

"Later?"

Danny merely smirked and let Steve's brain percolate as to what 'later' might entail. It wasn't long before the server returned and took their orders; Steve requested the New York Strip, Danny the scallops, both agreeing to share and pick off the other, and just a few minutes after that, the appetizer Steve had ordered arrived. "Cured meats? Very nice, babe," Danny plucked one right from the large platter and popped it in his mouth. "Yea, I was thinking getting something from the raw bar, but in the near ten years I've known you, I don't think I've ever seen you eat a raw oyster before."

"I haven't," Danny agreed. "Because that's disgusting, and New Year's Eve night is definitely not a night I want to end up in the ER." They continued to make idle chat until their main courses came out.

"Well, good thing we got plates to split," Steve stared down at the 20-ounce steak that was placed in front of him, flanked with grilled broccoli and potato wedges; the plate was literally sizzling with heat. Across from him, Danny was looking at scallops with a similar amorous expression. "Alright, babe – three for you, half for me." They exchanged entrees and were soon chowing down until they couldn't eat anymore.

"This is the first time in years I haven't finished a surf and turf meal," Danny leaned back, attempting to loosen his pants just a little. Across from him, Steve wasn't fairing much better; in fact, he looked to be struggling. "See, you went for the scallops first before the beef." Danny wagged his finger at his partner, who glared back at him. "Scallops are richer than steak, therefore, scallops get eaten last."

"Yea, yea, yea," the SEAL muttered back, finally giving up and mirroring Danny's posture in his seat. "That was amazing though. Please tell me you don't have anything strenuous planned."

"Not for a few hours yet."

"Would either of you gentlemen care for dessert?" The server popped up out of nowhere and Danny laughed out loud at the mere suggestion that he could fit anything more into his stomach. "Man, I don't think we can walk after eating all of that, and you're asking us about dessert?"

The kid chuckled. "Something to take up to your room? Or send up for later maybe?"

But both Steve and Danny shook their heads. "I'll just take the check," Steve sat up a little straighter to dig his wallet out, much to Danny's surprise. "I'm surprised that thing even made it on the plane."

"You have to have ID to fly, Danny, you saw my badge the first day we got here, and I bought you that shirt from Hard Rock the other day," Steve handed the waiter his credit card, "what in the world would make you think that I wouldn't bring my wallet with me?"

"Is that a real question? You want a real answer to that? Hey," Danny got the server's attention, "can we get some coffee before you run that since he's buying?" With a nod and a grin from the server, the guys were left alone again. "So, what'd you mean by 'later'?" Steve asked.

"Nope. Not telling."

"Why not?"

"Because," Danny grinned, pointing at Steve, "this is, uh, way more entertaining, watching you bounce up and down like a hyperactive stenographer. That, and it's a surprise."

Steve heaved a dramatic sigh but didn't push the matter any further, choosing instead to make conversation about this and that with Danny until their coffee arrived. The server plunked down two paper coffee cups with lids, as well as cups with matching saucers. "Just in case you want to leave soon and want some to take with you."

"See, this guy, this is a professional here; they don't do this in Hawaii."

"Oh, you're from Hawaii?" The server was suitably surprised. "You sound like you're from around here."

"I am, but life took me out to that god forsaken island almost ten years ago."

"Islands, Danny, islands. There're more than one."

"Yea, okay, but I live on the one. I live on one island, Steve, it's not like I got property all over the place there, and there's one island that's strictly forbidden to normal people, hence the singular use of the word 'island'."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Hence," he muttered, his head shaking ruefully as the server left and came back within a few minutes with a check book and Steve's credit card. While handing the bill to Steve (who, Danny, gave the man credit, did not choke when he saw the amount), the server placed a piece of paper the size of a business card down on Danny's side of the table. "Enjoy the rest of your evening, Sirs, and please let me know if there's anything else I can get you before you leave."

Danny could've sworn on a bible before the entire judiciary of the State of New Jersey that the kid had _winked_ at him. He tilted his head, staring at the slip of paper while Steve signed the bill and was still deciding whether or not to pick it up when Steve made the decision for him, reaching over with a long arm and plucking it from the white table cloth. "Uh, Danny?"

"Yea."

"This a phone number."

"Uh-huh."

Steve's eyes held Danny's just over the edge of scrap in his hand. "Is it – I mean, I think it's our server's phone number."

"Wow, figured that out all by yourself there, did ya? Definitely Navy Intelligence, babe." Danny stood from the table and grabbed his coffee, gesturing for Steve to do the same. "Can we leave now, please?"

"You don't wanna save it? Maybe give him a call?" Steve's eyes were twinkling. Danny's were too, but more with homicide in mind than with the humor found in his partner's. Grumbling to himself and pushing past Steve, Danny exited the restaurant, shaking his head the entire way as Steve called after him to wait up.

"I don't blame him, ya know?" They were stepping into the elevator to head back up to the room. "You're an attractive guy, Danny. I mean – you know, obviously, I think you're attractive, considering I'm attract-ed to you and we're here and uh, dating now, I guess you could say?" Danny just rolled his eyes at Steve as he stepped off the elevator and into the hallway, heading towards their room. "Kind of peeved that he propositioned you right in front of me. I mean, what was I? Chopped liver? I was sitting right there!"

"Well, he probably just assumed we were friends going out to dinner." Danny opened the door and headed into the room, but not before bending down to pick up a small bag with the logo of the hotel stamped on the front of it. "Unless you're jealous that he hit on me and not you." He placed the package on the coffee table and headed into the bedroom, shrugging out of his coat before realizing what it was he'd just done. He peeked back into the living area just in time to see Steve pick up the bag and take a peek within to inspect it.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Danny moved back towards him, taking it out of his hands. "That is for later."

"What is it?"

"Later, babe, come on," Danny tugged on Steve's arm, pulling him in to the bedroom. "Let's get comfortable, let dinner settle, watch a movie for a bit." As Danny pulled his shirt off, Steve watched him with narrowed eyes. "What are you up to, Danno?"

"You'll see."

Steve huffed a bit but none the less followed his partner's lead in divesting himself of his dinner clothing in favor of a pair of comfortable pajama bottoms and one of his old SEAL t-shirts. It wasn't long before he and Danny were settled cozily next to each other. "You know, I haven't actually seen this one the entire way through?" Steve nosed gently against Danny's neck. The latter chuckled.

"Keep that up, and you won't see it all the way through this time." Danny wrapped an arm around Steve's shoulders as he got comfortable. "I've seen the first and second one a few times, but I've only managed to catch bits and pieces of this one."

"Does it bother you that you and I, as cops, officers of the law, have a fascination with heist films?"

Danny shrugged. "It's research. We don't just deal with gang bangers and murderers; we put away thieves too. Maybe not thieves quite as high end and intelligent as Ocean's team, but still." His phone went off then and Danny leaned away from Steve to grab it off of the bedside table. Swiping right and opening up the notification, he found himself staring at a picture of Grace holding Charlie in front of her, both of them wearing crowns that spelled out 'Happy New Year!'. He turned the phone so that Steve could see, then tapped on the phone, plunking out a reply and sending it off. "Charlie's still up at midnight London time," Danny shook his head, chuckling as he set his phone back on the night stand. "Good luck with that, Rache."

_Ocean's 13_ proved to be as good as its predecessors, though there were a few moments in the movie that made Steve shiver with disgust – "We're checking the bed for bed bugs before we go to sleep tonight, Danny" – and that made Danny giggle manically with laughter – "all they were supposed to do was spike the dice processing supply and they wound up starting a workers revolt!". On the whole however, by the time 9:00pm came around and the credits were rolling, Steve and Danny had been pleasantly entertained. "I can't believe that guy managed to start a riot by invoking the name of a tequila," Steve ruefully shook his head as he sank down into the bed and rolled towards Danny. "That was ridiculous."

"That was genius," Danny snickered as he looked for another movie to watch before settling on _The Santa Clause_ with Tim Allen. He slid an arm low to rest against Steve's back as he, too, snuggled under the covers.

"You know, I honestly can't remember the last time I stayed in and watched movies and ate all day," Steve suddenly said, though his voice was a little muffled against the side of Danny's body. The latter squeezed his partner gently in response. "Enjoying yourself, I hope?"

"I am. What do you have planned after the movie?"

"Well," Danny grinned, "I'm gonna make you wait to find that out, but I will tell you that it has something to do with what's in that bag you were looking in earlier. After the movie, you'll find out."

Steve shifted. He huffed a bit. He raised his head to try and argue, but in the end, he didn't. Danny knew this had to be driving Steve insane – not knowing what was coming, being forced to wait, to be patient, having to let someone else take the reins a bit – but in truth, he was proud of his SuperSEAL and that Steve hadn't sucked the fun out of his plans by demanding to know what Danny was plotting. Surprises hadn't always led to good in Steve's life; in fact, they'd often led to bad. But Steve trusted Danny enough to not pry too much, and Danny would take that as the victory it was.

"Isn't there another Ocean's movie besides the three?" Steve stretched as the end credits began to roll and he sat up, Danny following his lead.

"There's _Ocean's 8_ , yea, but that focuses on Danny Ocean's sister and her own gang of thieves, and from what I hear, it didn't do so hot at the box office." The blonde stretched his arms once more and then slapped Steve gently on the leg. "C'mon, babe, it's after 11:00pm. Get dressed, and dress warm."

"Why?"

"Wear those boots of yours too, no sneakers." Danny rolled off the bed and began digging in his bags for jeans, a sweater, socks, and an undershirt while Steve blinked at him. "Where are we going now? It's less than an hour to midnight; you don't want to stay in the room?"

"Nope!" Danny grinned, motioning for Steve to get a move on, and after looking at his partner with an adorably confused expression on his face for a few seconds, Steve did as Danny told him. Within ten minutes, they were both dressed, and Danny headed into the living room to grab the bag and dig out what was in it. Steve appeared behind him, looking over his shoulder eagerly as Danny revealed two pairs of thick, outdoor gloves.

"Gloves?" Steve took the pair Danny handed him, brow furrowed.

"Come on, let's go; coat, hat, gloves," Danny grabbed his jacket and slipped it on, zipping it up and motioning for Steve to do the same before making sure he had a keycard and heading for the door. Steve was still befuddled at what was happening, but he never the less followed his partner out the door, down the hall, and into the elevator as they rode it down to the lobby.

"Let me get this straight – you wanted us to get dressed up, get all bundled up like Eskimos so that we could come outside in 25-degree weather when we could be upstairs ordering beers or champagne or that dessert we were offered from the restaurant and staying warm?" Steve was incredulous, but Danny knew better than to think the man was complaining. Steve was truly stumped, and Danny could only grin as he dug his cellphone out and tapped a few buttons before sliding it back in his pocket again as the doors opened. "Come on, follow me."

Both men stepped out into the lobby and out the main entrance. Danny led them towards the left and across the street. In the night with the moon hanging high, Manhattan was lit up like a beacon across the Hudson with light reflecting off the gently rolling waves, and both Steve and Danny knew that the streets in and around Times Square were packed like sardines with millions of people eagerly waiting for the time-honored tradition of the ball dropping. Danny led them both down a sidewalk and then cut a right onto a concrete path leading to a winding dock which dumped out onto a small island like structure that cut into the river. It was Pier C Park; Steve remembered Danny pointing it out to him earlier in the week when they'd been looking out the window at the city-scape and admiring the view. Currently, it was well lit, covered in snow, and some of the benches had been wiped clear from previous visitors from earlier in the day. While the path was flat and close to the water, the park had various levels, some starting low, and others turning into hills that one could climb through various stone paths that cut through the snowy field. The light posts, bright and glowing, cast shadows from the trees and other structures over the snow. It was ethereal as they walked the path to the main dock and finally came to rest against the fencing to look over at the city across the water way.

"Can't find this back home," Danny said softly. Steve had to agree – how could he do otherwise? It was stunning, really, in the quiet and its simplicity, knowing that throngs of people on the island across from them were jumping and singing and dancing, reveling in a celebration that would take place roughly a half hour from now with confetti flying and music blaring. In contrast, here he and Danny were, standing quietly next to each other merely enjoying the other's company, no grand parties to be had or found because they weren't needed. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat and continued to enjoy the peaceful scenery before him.

That is, until, something exploded against his back. "What the - ?!"

It was about that moment that Steve realized Danny was no longer standing next to him. Had he really zoned out that badly? He had no time to really think on that question as another object hit him in the side, white powder bursting around him as he turned to see Danny standing near the park side, a bank of snow behind him and a grin on his face.

"What do you think, SuperSEAL?" Danny casually tossed a snowball in his hand. Steve grinned and slinked towards his partner as if he were a predator. "I think you should probably start running now, Danno." To Danny's credit, he took the man's advice and the boys were off, chasing each other through the trees and bushes as best they could wearing heavy boots and slip sliding through the snow. Danny took an opportunity to chuck the snow ball he'd been holding behind him, but Steve easily dodged it; well, not so much dodged as he took a nose dive into the plentiful and cold white ammunition. He wiped the snow from his face and looked up, seeing that Danny was gone. And sure, it would be easy to find him – walking through snow created footprints after all – but where would the fun be in that? So, instead of giving chase, Steve decided to post up near a large tree and began the process of making his own ammo. It took him a few tries (it wasn't as if he'd grown up in the Northeast like Danny had with multiple opportunities to create a stash of snowballs), but eventually, he got into a good rhythm with packing the snow and placing them off to the side.

_Crack._

Steve instantly froze and pressed himself against the trunk of the tree, taking a few snow balls with him. Another crack sounded to his right, and Steve turned his gaze just in time to see snow falling from the branches of a tree. A squirrel possibly, but the sailor doubted it, and he knew Danny; the man had picked up some pretty good diversion techniques over the years, mainly from Steve, and that just made the SEAL take all the more caution as he looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, he saw a shadow dodge to his right, and he smirked. Instead of making his way towards where he now knew Danny was though, Steve instead made his way towards where the first noise came from, holding a few snowballs in his hands. Predictably, he heard the crunch of snow a couple of yards behind him and after taking a few more steps, dropped to his knees and twisted around, hurling a snowball at a surprised Danny Williams and hitting him square in the chest. He flung the other snowball at his partner, hitting him in the stomach, and Steve got to his feet and made his way back towards his stash of ammo, dodging two snowballs and taking one in the shoulder.

Danny was frantically trying to make more snowballs as Steve reached his collection and began pelting them at his partner, one right after the other. "Oh, the boy from Jersey's getting his ass handed to him by the Hawaiian guy!" Steve picked up the last four snowballs and stalked towards Danny until he was standing over him, the blonde curled up in a fetal position shaking with laughter and trying to protect his head. "C'mere, Danno, come on," Steve leaned over and smashed a snowball into the back of the man's neck; Danny let out a yelp. "Jesus fucking Christ that's cold!"

"It's snow, Danny, of course it's cold!" Steve laughed and slapped some more snow against Danny's back. But his legs were way too close to his partner's hands, and soon enough, Danny had managed to wrestle him down into the snow by wrapping his arms around his knees and shoving him back. Steve collapsed into the powder beneath him and immediately set to gaining leverage over his adversary, only to find that Danny had managed to straddle him and get one of his arms already pinned.

Well, this was just embarrassing. Steve grunted against Danny's hold, trying to wrench his arm free, but Danny was _strong_ , ridiculously so, and finally, Steve went for the easy, if not slightly unfair tactic. With his free hand, he reached up, snaked his hand under Danny's coat, and attacked his partner's stomach. It certainly had the desired effect: Danny shrieked (Steve would let that go – cold, tickling fingers were awful) and scrambled off his partner, stumbling as he tried to make his way to his feet just as _Auld Lang Syne_ began flitting through the air between them.

"I set the alarm for five minutes before midnight," Danny held up his hands, stopping Steve's advance. "We can watch the fireworks from the dock? Truce?"

"Dock, yes," Steve dropped the snow and clapped his hands together, "but SEAL's don't give in."

"That's cute, but it's a draw, Superman." Danny rubbed his gloved hands together and started back down the path towards the water, both of them making it back with two minutes to spare. Steve sidled up next to the shorter man, their arms touching from shoulder to hand until Steve tentatively wound his fingers in Danny's, who squeezed back encouragingly. "Thanks for buying the tickets out here, Steve," Danny looked up at him, smiling softly. "You, uh… you really did get me one of the best gifts anyone's ever given me, you know?"

"Back at'chya, Danno," Steve dropped his partner's hand and instead wound his arm around Danny's waist, tugging him just a bit closer and warmth spread inside as Danny leaned his head against his shoulder. This was nice, perfect even. Steve wasn't even cold anymore. As he nudged Danny's head gently, the tones of _Auld Lang Syne_ filled the air around them again, and across the Hudson, fireworks exploded into the sky, filling the night with blues and reds, whites and greens, all different patterns and shapes.

And for some reason, this was now different, as if the ringing in of the New Year made this moment all the more special, all the more poignant and consequential. If Steve and Danny so chose, they could leave everything they'd said and experienced over the last few days in the old year and start the New Year as they always had; together, but as friends and nothing more. It would be fine; if one brought up the possibility, the other wouldn't even question it.

"Hey Danny?"

Danny tilted his head up just a bit. "Yea, babe?"

"We're doing this, for real, right?" Steve swallowed, looking down at him, and Danny only nodded. "Yea, Steve; we're doing this. For real." He pursed his lips together. "That still okay with you?"

Steve nodded slowly, leaning in and pressing his forehead against Danny's, taking a deep breath. "Yea, Danno. That's more than okay with me."

Danny's mouth was on his before Steve could take a second breath, gentle and sweet, and Steve held his partner's cheek with one hand while pulling him closer with the arm still around his waist. He was sure a housewife somewhere would be calling this a Hallmark moment, what with the snowy landscape and fireworks shooting off in the background against an illuminated city on the water, but all Steve knew was that Danny was kissing him, that they were really doing this, and that he was finally, finally at peace for the first time since before he'd been told that his mother had been killed. He dropped his hand to slide his other arm around Danny, holding him fast and tight while Danny did the same to him, and damn if Steve knew how long they stood there kissing each other. It didn't matter, because Danny was opening his mouth and Steve was sliding home. This was it. This was happening. They were really doing this.

"Steven?" Danny nipped at his bottom lip delicately, and the only answer Steve could give was a plaintive whine; he wanted his partner's mouth back on his.

"You, uh, you wanna head back? To the room, I mean?"

Steve's eyes flew open, his heart and stomach somersaulting simultaneously. Was Danny asking him what he thought he was asking him? Whether he was or wasn't, the man was waiting for an answer, patiently studying Steve's face with crystal blue eyes that Steve couldn't get enough of staring at. But he had to give Danny an answer. His friend had just put himself out there, Steve was sure of it, put himself out there for something that Steve knew Danny was nervous, even frightened of doing.

"Yea, Danny," Steve laid another gentle kiss on Danny's mouth, this voice rough with cold and need. "Let's head back."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“So, you and Commander McGarrett are together, you say. What exactly does that mean, Daniel?”_
> 
> “It means,” Danny started beating Steve wildly with a pillow as the other man doubled over, laughing quietly at Rachel’s torture, “that this – this traitorous animal laughing at my pain and discomfort right now – and I are together, as in a thing, an item, a couple; we’re together.”
> 
> _“Ah,”_ Rachel sniffed. _“I see.”_ There was a pause before she added: _“Sexually, you mean?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Author’s Note_ : So, this is the chapter where you need to note the rating change. :D Originally, when I first started this story, and then made the decision to continue with it, I didn’t see this happening. However, as I continued to write, my Muse, along with two very impatient Five-0 officers, were absolutely screaming at me that this was the way the tale needed to be told. Far be it from me to deny my Muse or the characters I’m writing what they want, right? 
> 
> Also, you’ll notice I mention a certain enemy CIA agent; I published the first chapter of this story back in November, before the hints were dropped that Joe was going to be killed off, and I really didn’t want to work to add that event into this. My goal was to have a fluffy, sweet Christmas/New Year’s story for our boys, and I just didn’t want to write an anguished, angry, vengeful Steve and a sad, worried, placating Danny. So, for the purposes of this story, Joe hasn’t died, not yet. I’ll probably write a story later on with Steve dealing with Joe’s death, but during this time of year, it’s kind of hard for me to write those kinds of painfully emotional stories. So, enjoy this fluffy story as it was originally intended :D
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work._

**Hawaii Five-0**

Neither Danny nor Steve were prepared for the emotional roller-coaster their love making propelled them on. From the second they hit the bed, naked and bare to the other, it was a steady stream of tentative touches and hesitant kisses, as if both of them needed reassurance from the other that this was something good, something that the other wanted.

"We can wait," Steve whispered in the dark as Danny lay on top of him, his partner panting softly, shaking from equal parts excitement and fear. "Danny, we can. We can wait." He swallowed. "I'd wait forever if that's what you needed." Steve was nervous, yes, but he knew Danny had specific trepidation's. He was well aware that this, them, together like this, was the point of no return for his partner.

For whatever reason, Steve offering that one last out was what made Danny shore himself up, take a deep breath, and look down at the man beneath him. He calmed, instantly. His heart was still pounding, and a nervous thrum still raced under his skin, but the fear, the worry ebbed away as he felt Steve's hands soothingly glide over his back. Danny shook his head. "I don't want to wait," he murmured, dipping his mouth to capture Steve's again, and this time, it was sure and certain, and Steve lifted one of his legs to wrap around Danny, securing them together while Danny reached behind him and gripped one of Steve's hands, dragging their clenched fingers to the side of Steve's head and holding it there gently.

From then on, it was easy, a breeze. It was warmth and passion and love wrapped up in two bodies pushing and pulling and grinding against one another, mouths seeking and voices groaning whispered names and affirmations. It was laughter when Steve rolled them to take the top and Danny affectionately called him a control freak. It was Danny panting into Steve's mouth when the SEAL teased his hand around Danny's cock and finally gripped it, making Danny gasp and arch his back against his friend, his partner, his lover now, and Steve sinking his lips against Danny's, owning every moan of pleasure Danny gave him.

It was Danny pushing himself up to roll Steve onto his back and then tugging him into a seated position while Danny settled on his lover's thighs, reaching a shy hand between them to join Steve's which hadn't left Danny's leaking member. Danny's hand was softer on Steve at first, not as firm as Steve's was on him, but he quickly found his rhythm, matching his partner pull for pull while lining his neck with kisses and bites. It was Steve refusing to give Danny any quarter as he wound an arm around the blonde's lower back and held him fast against a muscular chest, encouraging the blonde not to hold back, to do as he wished, that Steve trusted him implicitly, telling Danny how good he felt, how good Danny was making him feel as he thrust up into Danny's hand and Danny rolled his member in and out of Steve's.

And it was both of them climaxing together, breathing each other's air and refusing to release the other's mouth from his own. It was sitting and caressing and holding each other as they came down, uncaring of the messy results of their lovemaking, nosing each other's cheeks, kissing away wetness at the corners of their eyes.

In short, it was perfect. They were lying next to each other on their sides, arms over one another's waists and occasionally trading kisses; Danny loved using all parts of his mouth, and Steve had the proof of it all over his neck and collarbone. He didn't care though, and simply continued to allow Danny to nip and mark him as he saw fit.

"Glad we didn't wait till we got home?" Steve couldn't help the smug grin. Danny only chuckled against his jaw. "Yea, babe. I'm glad we didn't wait till we got home." He took a deep breath and released a low sigh, settling in against Steve and burrowing his nose between his partner's neck and shoulder.

They dozed off and on throughout the night, with Danny waking Steve from a light nap for another round, where in Steve learned exactly how tantalizing his partner's mouth could be while attached to his ear and offering a whispered play by play of erotic promises that Steve could come to expect from Danny until the blonde felt the man stiffen beneath him and hot liquid splash against his stomach. "God, Steve, the noises you make…" Danny breathed, watching as his partner's chest hitched up, nipples hard and peaked, all while Steve moaned out breathy, high pitched moans from the back of his throat.

Steve, not to be outdone, returned the favor of course, and afterwards, he held Danny tightly against him, squeezing randomly all over the stocky, built body laid alongside his own whose heartbeat was slowing and whose breathing was evening out. He nosed the side of Danny's head. "I love you, Danny." He saw the corner of his partner's mouth lift up, felt Danny nuzzle against him, and God, he would never get enough of that, he loved when Danny did that. "I love you too, Steve," Danny placed a gentle kiss on Steve's chest, humming quietly to himself as his lover's hand drifted to gently scratch at the back of his neck.

"Love Gracie and Charlie too."

Danny snuffled a laugh against his skin before looking up at him. "I know that too, babe." Even in the pre-dawn light, Steve could see Danny's smile as clearly as if the room were fully lit.

"What do you think Rachel will think?"

"Rache?" Danny shrugged. "Not that it matters, but I think she'll be fine with it. She might be a little weird at first with the whole 'me sleeping with a guy' thing, which I fully plan to have fun with, by the way," Steve laughed at his partner's shameless humor. "But if there's one thing I know about Rachel, it's that she knows how much you love our kids. In the end, that's gonna be the only thing that matters to her." Danny studied Steve quietly for a minute. "Catherine?"

"What about her?"

"I know she's in the field, but you were gonna propose to her a few years ago," Danny shrugged. "Think she'll be thrown for a loop?"

"Maybe. You know, I kind of think she always thought in the back of her mind that our relationship was a little close, personally. I mean, there are best friends and partners, and then there's us. She never said anything about it, that just wasn't her way, but I can pinpoint a few times where she may have wanted to… and honestly, maybe when she would have had the right to." Steve rubbed his face. "Lemme ask you a question."

"Sure."

"Is it wrong that I kinda want to know what Doris thinks of all of this?"

Danny took a breath. "Wrong? No, no I don't think it's wrong. She uh, she definitely doesn't get the Mother of the Year award, but… you're her son. She's your mother. No matter what she's done, that's not something you can just turn off, you know? In some small way, you'll kind of always be seeking her approval or her 'okay'-"

"No," Steve ran a hand down Danny's arm from his neck and pulled him up. Danny went willingly, ending up straddling his partner. "Never her approval, Danny," Steve rested his hands on Danny's hips, running his fingers through blonde downy hair on this thighs. It was strange, feeling hair where he hadn't on his other lovers, but not unwelcome. "Whether she approves of this or not, I couldn't care less; she lost that right a long time ago, to approve of anything in my life."

"I'm just saying, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted her support," Danny leaned down and kissed him softly, and when he did that, Steve had no defense against it. He was going to have to work on that, but for the moment, he surrendered totally and completely. "Think I wanna try something else," Danny murmured against his lips. Steve raised an eyebrow in interest. "Yea?" He watched as Danny stretched himself out then kissed a line from his neck, down his chest, to his stomach, and then lower.

"Yes," Steve groaned as he felt a tentative lick at the tip of his cock, "okay, yes, that's good, let's try that."

**Hawaii Five-0**

"Steve?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you want kids?"

Steve furrowed a brow. "Kids?"

"Yea, kids of your own, biological kids; do you want any?"

"…Danny is there something you want to tell me? Because I didn't notice anything different about you-"

"No, you idiot," Danny snorted into his pillow. "I mean you don't have any kids of your own, and I know you've mentioned maybe you wanted some in the past. I know you'd be like a father to Grace and Charlie and that's great, but, you know…"

"There are other options for me having my own kids other than marrying a woman, Danny." Steve sat up just a bit to look down at Danny. "Right now, I have more than I ever thought I'd have for the kind of life that I lead. If I don't manage to have kids of my own, Grace and Charlie are more than enough for me."

Danny nodded, tilting his head to the side. "That sounds like you wanna look at options too, though."

"Maybe," Steve conceded, "there's all kinds of ways to have kids now; surrogates are expensive, but maybe we can find a woman who isn't married yet who wants a kid of her own and I can help with that. Or maybe I can just go the full surrogate route, purchase some eggs, go through the whole process and do it that way. But that's so far off for me to really think about in depth you know? And, you and I would have to have a few conversations-"

"If that's what you wanted, I'd do it."

Steve chuckled. "Danny-"

"If that's what you wanted, I'd do it, Steve. No question." Danny pushed himself up to sit across from Steve. "Becoming a father was the best thing to ever happen to me. If you want kids of your own, I'm not going to keep that from you. I'll help you any way I can."

"Except when you broke up with Melissa one of the reasons you gave her was that you didn't want to have any more kids with her," Steve pointed out.

"Melissa isn't you." Danny's answer was simple and efficient. He watched Steve digest that for a few moments.

"It'd be a lot of work, Danny, I mean… this one, if I went ahead with finding a surrogate to have a kid, this would be all us. No dropping him off by Rachel's or anything like that, it'd all fall on us. You want that?"

"We'll make it work, Steve. We don't have to get into the weeds with this here and now, but if this is something you want, we'll make it work." The blonde grinned at him. "Also, it figures you'd want a boy." Steve tilted his head until he caught his partner's meaning. "It'd be nice to carry on the family name," he admitted, "but ten fingers, ten toes, and all that. Happy and healthy, that's all I'd really want."

**Hawaii Five-0**

Steve found that he liked scratching his fingers through the shaved sides of Danny's head and playing with the tail of hair found at the nape of his neck. It was soothing for him, helped him focus, order his thoughts. "Hey Danny?"

His partner nosed against his thigh where he was currently dozing and granted him a low 'hm' in acknowledgement. Steve took a breath; Danny quiet, comfortable, relaxed was something Steve never wanted to take away from him but his train of thought being what it was he figured it was better to get this conversation out of the way now rather than later. "Come on, Danno, I gotta talk to you about something."

That seemed to rouse Danny to wakefulness. "We've hardly slept at all since we got in last night," he grumbled, rolling to look up at Steve who, to his credit, had a look of apology on his face. "What time is it even?"

"About 8:00am."

"And you're still in bed?"

"Kinda hard to move when you're sleeping on me."

"Or was," Danny groused, closing his eyes and tugging the blankets over him a little more securely. "What's up, babe?"

"Greer." Steve just came out with it.

"O…kay?" Danny sat up, having a feeling he'd probably need to be at least half way vertical for this conversation. "Uh, why?"

"She knows things about my past, Danny, things I've done, missions I was on," the SEAL took a breath. "And she not so subtly threatened to give me up to some people that we dealt a very serious blow to years ago."

"Morocco," his partner deadpanned. Steve nodded. "Morocco was after the mission, but yea, basically. Anyway, she knows where I am now, knows what I do for a living. She might be locked up in prison but when has that ever stopped a criminal putting a hit out on someone? Or on people that person loves?"

"That's not something I'm foreign to, Steve. With Victor Hesse, Wo Fat, Gabriel Waynecroft, others we've dealt with, there was always the chance that they'd go after the team." Danny scratched his nose.

"I'm not worried about the 'team' though, Danny." Steve picked at the sheet over his legs while his partner looked on quietly. "Greer knows people. She has connections, more connections than I do since she decided that fighting against her own country was the path she wanted to take. She has more access to funding, access to more support, intelligence – hell, she probably knows we're in New Jersey now."

"So if and when she makes a move, we just make sure we're ready for it."

"It's not really us I'm worried about, Danno," Steve shook his head, and Danny saw just the trace amount of fear on his face, and it suddenly all made sense, what Steve's true fear was.

"You think she'll go for the kids?" Danny's voice was tight, as it always was when there was the potential of harm coming to his children. They'd prepared for it with Wo Fat, had dealt with it when Rick Peterson had made the severe error in judgment he had when he'd taken Grace all those years ago, and when Gabriel had paid Kono and Adam a torturous visit during their honeymoon.

"I think she'll go for what will control me the most, what will hurt me the most, and that's you and the kids – the kids more," Steve cleared his throat, looking around, "not that I'd rather you than the kids, but-"

"You don't have to explain, Steve, I get it. And just so we're clear, you better want me to take the brunt of anything that comes our way more than you'd want Grace and Charlie to," Danny reached a hand out to squeeze Steve's arm. "That's the way I'd want it, if it has to happen. And I know you'd put yourself through hell or worse for them too, though obviously I hope it never reaches that point."

"If it reached that point, then I'd do it, Danny. Gladly. Anything to keep them safe." Steve rested a hand on Danny's, squeezing back. Danny only offered a small smile in return. "So, how do you want to handle this then?"

"When we get back, we talk to Rachel first," Steve said, and Danny grunted softly in agreement. "Then we tell the kids – what do you think about making Grace a little more… aware of the risks?"

Danny shook his head. "We'll tell her what she needs to know, go over what we want her to do if someone weird comes up to her, stuff like that, but I don't want to get her in too deep, Steve. She's almost 18, she's looking at colleges, enjoying her last years of being a kid and being in high school – I don't want to put any of that on her plate." Steve didn't argue, only inclined his head and lifted Danny's hand to kiss it softly. "Same with Charlie?" he asked.

"Yea, same with him, just a little more general, more on his level," Danny scooted a bit closer. "I guess we should also talk about how we're gonna tell everyone else."

"I was just planning on telling them our first day back." Steve lifted an eyebrow, as if asking if that was alright by Danny. "I don't want to go telling the entire island, though, know what I mean?"

"Need to know," Danny agreed readily, "especially with all the craziness we deal with-"

"The criminals we get saddled with-"

"Gangs, mobsters, drug runners, traffickers, serial killers-"

"Plus the way you tend to set off all of them with your less than amenable demeanor-"

"Whoa, hey – _my_ less than amenable demeanor?!" Danny's mouth practically fell open in shock. "I am not the one who drives like a lunatic like he's on the Grand Prix while he's on the way to Liliha's Bakery with the entire arsenal from Pearl Hickam in the trunk, okay? I would very much like to be professional with these assholes, cuff 'em nice and gentle like, and go home in one piece every night, but no, not with you around-" He was cut off by Steve sealing his mouth over Danny's and pushing him back into the pillows.

It was the nicest way Steve had ever told him to shut up.

**Hawaii Five-0**

Steve came to slowly, groggily, blinking his eyes open and looking in front of him. He was on his side facing the bathroom – _I really need to use that_ , he thought to himself, but he found as he tried to move that a pair of arms were keeping him from his goal. As he tried to extricate himself from his own personal koala bear (and wouldn't that make for an interesting nick name for Danny), Steve's stomach grumbled rather loudly, and he sighed. After the active fun he and Danny had had the previous night, his body was finally making it known that it expected to be fed. Soon.

Steve reached for his phone which had made it onto the night side table at some point during the night. "Damn," he sighed; 2:30 in the afternoon. When was the last time Steve had slept the day away? He couldn't remember. Yes, he and Danny had been up most of the night, but still, waking up in the afternoon, even if it was the early afternoon, was something Steve hadn't done in ages.

"Danno, come on," he patted his - boyfriend's? Lover's? Significant other's? – arm. "We gotta get up."

"I am up," came the muffled response, and Steve discovered that was indeed true, just not in the way that he meant. He snickered, shaking his head ruefully to himself as he felt Danny's half-hard cock rolling against his backside. "Bathroom, shower, food, in that order," Steve, with a fair of amount of equal parts effort and reluctance, managed to disentangle himself from Danny's hold, making his way towards the bathroom to take care of his own morning needs; using the toilet, brushing his teeth, and then turning on the water to take a shower.

He'd only been in for just over a minute when he heard Danny come into the bathroom, relieve himself, and also brush his teeth. "I'll be out in a minute," Steve informed, hurriedly rubbing soap all over himself so that Danny could get in the shower, but that didn't seem to be a problem, since Danny was pulling back the curtain and joining him. "You are going to learn the joys and benefits of a normal shower," Danny casually plucked the soap out of the hand of his shocked SEAL and began working up a lather. "Specifically," Danny continued, reaching for Steve and starting to wash him, "the joys and benefits of taking a shower with your loving, doting partner."

"You think I've never taken a shower with someone else before?" Steve laughed. "Danny, Cath and I used to take showers together all the time."

"Oh, so that gave you what, like six minutes all together? Three minutes a piece for each navy man and woman?"

"…it was efficient," Steve tried, clearing his throat. "And, you know, sometimes it was for… uh, other reasons."

"Very romantic, babe. I'm swept off my feet, truly," Danny snickered, turning Steve around so that he could wash his back. "Just relax, SuperSEAL. You should probably get used to this, cuz it's gonna be happening a lot."

Danny took his time washing Steve, massaging soap into his skin and paying careful attention to the man's neck, shoulders, and lower back, areas where Danny had noticed his partner held most of his tension. His lover's stiffening cock may have also received a few strokes, but Danny kept most of his attentions on the non-erogenous zones of Steve's body, turning him as needed. After ten minutes of skilled hands and hot water, Danny brushed his hands over the man's arm and looked up at a blissed-out face and closed eyes. "Steve?"

"Hm?"

Danny laughed softly. "Not gonna pass out on me, are you?" Steve shook his head, dipping it down and opening his eyes just enough to find Danny's lips to kiss gently. "My turn," he murmured, grabbing the soap and working up the suds before starting in on Danny, who leaned against the wall and sighed contently. "Verdict on long, simultaneous showers?"

"Approved," Steve nodded, tracing Danny's stomach and the grooves near his hips before gently brushing his fingers along a now fully hard member. As Danny whispered Steve's name and tilted his head back, Steve found Danny's hand and placed it on his own thick cock while pressing Danny gently into the tiled wall. They took their time, neither rushing, savoring each other's lips and skin. Steve drew a wanton moan from Danny when he bit into and sucked gently at the flesh of his collarbone, paying him back for the mark Danny had placed just under his ear the other day before dragging his lips up his lover's neck, and settling his mouth by his ear.

"Come on, Danny," Steve breathed, hearing Danny's own hitching. "Don't hold it in; let go. I know you want to." He felt Danny's hand squeezing tighter around his own member in response and groaned, shuffling in closer to his partner. "Come, Danny."

And he did, releasing a long, low moan and panting as Steve continued to work him, as he continued to work Steve, and he heard the SEAL mutter "Oh God…" before Steve too was spilling onto Danny's stomach. The water beat down on both of them and Steve moved just a little bit more to the side so that Danny could be rinsed clean of Steve's essence before turning around and allowing the water to do the same to him.

"Very much approved," Steve groaned. Danny laughed. "Come on; time to eat Mama William's left overs."

"I think we need to take a break for a little bit," Steve managed to climb out of the shower and fit a towel around his waist, Danny following his lead. "Otherwise some important parts of my anatomy are going to fall off."

"Can't have that," Danny shuffled out into the bedroom and pulled on a t-shirt and some sweat pants before moving into the living room and heading towards the fridge where his mother's left-over lasagna from earlier in the week beckoned him. He'd just finished putting everything on the coffee table in front of the sofa when he heard his phone go off.

"Hey, Monkey! How are you, enjoying jolly old England?"

_"Yea, it's been pretty fun so far. We actually drove out to Sandringham on Christmas morning to greet the royal family after church."_

"I remember you sent me some photos of that," Danny smiled into the phone. Texting just hadn't been enough; hearing Grace's voice was like hearing an angel's song. "And how is her Majesty? I met her a few years ago, you know?"

_"Yes, Danno,"_ Danny could hear the eyeroll in his daughter's voice. _"It's not like I forget, you bring it up every other month."_

Danny grumbled. "Do not – okay, so you went to Sandringham, did you do anything else?"

_"Not really, just stuck around at Grandma and Grandpa's, took Charlie to Hyde Park and Kensington Palace. Mom got a lot of pictures of him running around the fountain at Trafalgar Square. I'll tell her to send them to you. Oh! And we went to the Sherlock Holmes."_

"The Sherlock Holmes? I'm pretty sure that's a fictional character, Grace." Danny waved at Steve as his partner came out of the bedroom and sat down next to him.

_"No, it's a pub with Sherlock Holmes as the theme, Danno. It was pretty cool."_

"Well, that's good Gracie, I'm glad you're having fun. How's Charlie holding up?"

_"He was a little fussy the first day or two here since the flight was really long and everything was new to him…and Grandma wouldn't leave him alone,"_ Grace added that last part in a whisper, and Danny couldn't help but snicker. _"But he really liked going around London to see things. We didn't bring him with us to Sandringham though; he stayed with Grandpa while Grandma, mom, and I went."_

"Probably for the best."

_"Yea,"_ Grace cleared her throat. _"So, you and Uncle Steve are in New Jersey?"_

"Yep, we're in New Jersey, in Newark. Saw your other Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Bridget and Aunt Stella too. Ma made this amazing lasagna dinner a couple nights ago-"

Steve leaned in, mouth full, like an ape. "It's so good Gracie. Miss you!"

"That's very nice, Steven, you've slobbered all over my arm. Much appreciated, babe," Danny grabbed for a napkin and dabbed at his skin while Steve snickered. "Anyways, yes, we're in New Jersey. We'll be back though in time to meet your plane when you get in on Saturday." And then we can have a long talk about what Steve and I were doing in New Jersey, he silently added to himself. Speaking of which. "Monkey, is Mom around?"

_"Yea, hang on."_ Danny did so, sneaking a glance at Steve, who had paused in shoveling salad into his mouth. "You're not gonna tell her over the phone, are you?"

"No, not over the phone, I just – well, I mean – maybe?" Danny winced. Steve just rolled his eyes. "Hey Rache."

_"Hello, Danny. Grace said you needed to talk to me?"_

"Yea… um, is she around you right now?"

_"Yeeessss…"_

"Could you maybe find something for her to do for a few minutes?"

_"Grace,"_ Danny could hear Rachel's confused sigh over the phone, _"would you go and get Charlie ready for bed please?"_

_"I don't know why you two bother with this anymore. I'm 17,"_ Danny could hear his daughter through the phone and held it up so that his partner could also bear witness, _"it's not like I don't find out later, you know."_

Rachel cleared her throat after a few seconds. _"Your daughter is now upstairs and getting our son ready for bed. Now, what is it?"_

"Oh, she's _my_ daughter now, but it's _our_ son; why is that?"

_"There aren't enough minutes in my mobile plan to explain to you why that is, Daniel."_

"You have unlimited everything, Rachel."

_"Exactly. Now, what do you want to talk to me about?"_

Steve nearly choked with laughter. Danny shot him a dirty look. "Alright, so uh, you know Steve and me, we're in New Jersey, right?"

_"Yes, what of it?"_

"…well, we kind of uh, we didn't just come out here to see my parents, Rachel." Danny took a breath. "I mean, my mom wanted us both to come out and Steve got the tickets and everything, but we also used the trip to do something else."

_"Something else,"_ Rachel deadpanned.

"Yea. We uh, we're kind of together… now, maybe?" Danny felt a light smack on his arm and looked at Steve. "Maybe?" he whispered, eyebrows crinkled together.

"Okay, yes, definitely. We are definitely together – you know what, you get an ex-wife and see how terrified they make you when you need to tell them things, you insensitive amoeba." Danny heard a dry chuckle through the phone and smirked at his partner. "She still thinks I'm funny."

Steve just rolled his eyes and went back to his lasagna.

_"So, you and Commander McGarrett are together, you say. What exactly does that mean, Daniel?"_

"It means," Danny started beating Steve wildly with a pillow as the other man doubled over, laughing quietly at Rachel's torture, "that this – this traitorous animal laughing at my pain and discomfort right now – and I are together, as in a thing, an item, a couple; we're together."

_"Ah,"_ Rachel sniffed. _"I see."_ There was a pause before she added: _"Sexually, you mean?"_

"Oh my God, Rachel, I – why, why are you –"

_"I'm sorry, Danny, I know I shouldn't be having such a laugh at you right now, but there are times when you make it to easy."_ Rachel chuckled quietly into the phone. _"I assume if you're just now telling me you haven't told the children?"_

"No," Danny groaned. "I was going to bring Steve by on Saturday or Sunday and sit them down, tell them."

_"Over… to my house?"_ Danny didn't miss the confused tone in his ex-wife's voice.

"Yea, well they'll probably still be jet lagged and unpacking, plus if it turns into a big explanation, you know, a big… I don't know, just if everything doesn't go according to plan and Grace freaks out, I want her to be able to take a breather and she won't be able to do that if she's at my place with me."

_"Daniel, why in the world would you think Grace would be disapproving? You know better than that, come now."_ Rachel had certainly never lost her ability to scold Danny, that was for sure. _"I know you're nervous, but you know Grace adores Steven. It will take her some getting used to, I'm sure. It will take a good deal getting used to you being with a man, that that man is Steve, someone she's looked at like an uncle for all these years, but in the end, it will be alright, Danny."_

Danny glanced at Steve who had stopped eating in favor of leaning towards the phone to hear Rachel's side of the conversation, and he was nodding in agreement. "Well, Steve seems to think you're right, so I guess we'll just pick both of the kids up sometime on Sunday and uh, and we'll tell them then, maybe take them out for shave ice or something - hey," he cut her off before she could respond, "why are you so cool about this?"

_"Danny, do you know how many times I've thought you and Commander McGarrett were sleeping together?"_

"Uhh…no?"

_"After you went to Afghanistan to retrieve him, you didn't leave his beside for nearly a week. When he was kidnapped all those years ago by that Woofie-"_

"Wo Fat," Danny snorted.

_"-person, you were out of your mind while he was missing, and again, didn't leave him be for near a week. And then, of course, there was the time you crash landed a plan on the beach and gave him your liver and I thought for sure that after that something had to be going on because you were both inseparable for about a month even after you were released from the hospital."_ Rachel cleared her throat, took a breath, and drove on. _"And then when I went to visit you in the hospital after you were shot around a year ago, I was told he hadn't left your side for longer than five minutes. Charlie told me that Steven had snuck into your house during Christmas Eve and had helped himself to your Christmas Cookies, which, had it been anyone else but your children, you'd have murdered them for on the spot-"_

"Okay, alright, fine, I got it," Danny rubbed at his eyes, refusing to look at his partner, who, really, was enjoying all of this far too much.

_"Very well. Now, do you want to talk to Charlie before I put him to bed?"_

Ten minutes later, Danny had spoken to his son and to Grace again before hanging up the phone and looking at his partner.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Steve pushed some food his way. "Lasagna?"

Danny squinted his eyes. "You know how you were saying that you needed a break? Yea? That you needed a break from all the vigorous fooling around we've been doing? I'm gonna make that break nice and long for you."

And that was how Steve wound up feeding Danny lasagna on the couch in penance.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Usually it’s Clara giving these kinds of talks for the boys, but… well,” Eddie took a sip of his scotch and squared his shoulders, taking a breath. It helped to see that Danny’s father was just as jumpy about this conversation as Steve was. Truth be told, he’d never had to have this conversation with anyone’s father before. “What are you and Danny planning with this, huh? I am right, Clara and me, we are correct that something’s going on?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Author’s Note_ : We’re in the home stretch, I promise. This chapter is a little longer than the others, so I’m sorry about the wait, however, I hope that it’s worth the wait for all of you – it’s terribly domestic with moar Williams family moments; enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-0, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work._

**Hawaii Five-0**

"Hey Lou, howzit?"

_"All's quiet over here, Steve,"_ Lou's easy-going voice filled the room through Steve's speaker phone. _"Only been called out to one scene since you and Danny have been gone; let the kids run it through and we're still working on it but I think we're gonna wrap it up in the next day or two."_

"Always good to hear; what's the case?"

_"Well, apparently, wives don't like it when they come home to find their husband's side piece waiting naked in the bed they share with said spouse."_

Steve winced, as did Danny. "That sounds messy," the latter commented.

_"Not as messy as some, but, yea; girl's still alive though, in the hospital, just got out of critical condition yesterday."_ Lou snorted derisively. _"And of course, we can't find the husband, which is where the real mystery is."_

"Oh yea? Why's that?" Steve balanced the phone on the bedspread.

_"Turns out he'd been embezzling money from his company to pay for the rather lavish lifestyle he and his wife lead, oh and don't forget the purses and shoes and the hundred-thousand-dollar car for the mistress. His wife spilled the beans while we were questioning her, said that his assistant had asked her if she'd liked all those nice gifts he'd bought her-"_

"And she didn't know anything about any nice gifts, eh?" Danny rolled his eyes. Why was it always the wealthy business owners that though they could get away with this stuff?

_"Got it in one. So, we started asking around at his company for his whereabouts, and one of his other assistants thought we were there because we'd figured out what the husband was doing. He sang like a canary, trying to buy himself some points with the DA. We're pretty sure we know where Mr. Two-Timer is though."_

"Where's that? Not New Jersey, I hope," Danny joked, "this is the first vacation I've had where someone isn't trying to utilize my law enforcement services."

_"He has a little townhouse on the water in San Francisco,"_ Lou relayed. _"We're coordinating with Chin's task force to arrest him, then send him back over to us. I've requested gift wrapping, though Chin says that's extra."_

Steve grinned. He knew pushing Chin to take that job was a good move. "Well, make sure to tell Chin hello from both of us. Anything else going on?"

_"Just getting ready to hop on the annual January 2nd conference call with the Governor and the other agencies at 9:00am."_ Lou sounded absolutely tortured at the prospect. _"Anything you want me to pass along?"_

"Nah, just make sure you have the breakdown of arrests, charges, prosecutions, all that good stuff ready when she asks for it," Steve stretched his arms a bit. "Have Tani give her those answers and let Junior talk to her a little about our plans for the third and fourth quarter budgets. I've been working with him since the first quarter, putting him through his paces so he should be able to answer the questions the governor will ask. With 20 different agencies on the call, we're not gonna be able to give more of an over view than that anyways."

"And tell Junior that I am very, very grateful to him for learning the numbers aspect of this job so that I can focus on keeping our insane and fearless leader alive and out of handcuffs, endearing as that little incident was," Danny grinned. Steve rolled his eyes.

"That was one time, Danny-"

"It was not one time, that was at least the second time, if not the third."

"How do you get two times!?"

_"Gentlemen?"_ Lou's voice filtered through the air. _"As much as I'd like to witness your latest marital spat, I have a conference call to get on and two junior Five-0 members to wrangle. You guys are back in two days, right?"_

"The fourth, yea," Danny confirmed. "This sleepless moron booked us on the 6:00am flight out of JFK. We have about an hour layover at LAX, so we'll be back early afternoon on Friday."

"It'll make it easier to deal with the jetlag; the time difference will actually help since we'll be getting back in the afternoon and we can go through the day normally and get to sleep at a regular time," Steve looked so pleased with himself. Danny wanted to scream. Instead, he settled for talking to Lou. "See you Friday, buddy."

"Yea, Aloha, Lou. Give me a text and let me know how the conference call goes." Steve ended the call after Lou said goodbye and quirked an eyebrow at his partner. "You're really going to complain about waking up early to get back home?"

"I complain about waking up early every time I have to do it. Just because we're on vacation doesn't mean that changes – in fact, the odds that I will be supremely unhappy that I have to wake up early to catch a plane on the day that our vacation ends go up considerably." Danny picked up Steve's phone and lifted himself up, straddling the man and placing the phone on the night table before he began to nose up and down the line of Steve's neck. "You know what I'm wondering?" Danny nipped at his ear lobe. "I'm wondering if we should try out the other bed. We've got a few hours before dinner at Manny's with Bridge…"

Steve wrapped his arms around Danny immediately, holding tightly as he swung his legs over the side of Danny's bed, stood up, and immediately dropped both of them on his own bed. "We should definitely do that," Steve groaned, kissing the blonde soundly.

**Hawaii Five-0**

Manny's was thankfully only about 25 minutes from the W Hoboken and further inland. Danny navigated them expertly there, pointing out other restaurants he would frequent when he still lived in New Jersey, along with his friends from work. He pulled evenly into a space located across from Manny's Restaurant and BBQ. "Bridget's already here, thank God. That means we can get right in and order."

"Danny, I swear, the way you talk about this place, you'd think you'd married it or something."

"If only, babe," Danny laughed, walking across the street with Steve following him at a close clip and entering the restaurant. "Heyo, Tommy!" Danny immediately headed to the bar where a man about his age, thin and wiry with black hair and worn hands turned to look over his shoulder. "Hey, Williams! Long time no see, man! Been over a year!"

"Yea, I know, it's been busy back home," Danny spread his arms in a 'what can you do' gesture. "Is Manny in? Love to see him."

"He'll be back in about 15 minutes."

"Great, hey, Tommy," Danny moved to the side a bit, clapping his hand on Steve's shoulder, "this is my partner, Steve. Steve, this is Tommy Carmaggio, Manny's oldest kid." Steve reached a hand across the bar while Danny looked over his shoulder to see Bridget waiting patiently at a table not too far away. If she thought she was hiding the grin on her face by sipping her drink through a straw, Danny was going to have to tell her she was wrong.

"Hey, is this that Steve guy you say almost kills you once every other week?"

"Please," Steve rolled his eyes, "no more than once a month, he over exaggerates."

"Pretty sure I said every week there, Tommy, don't do him any favors, okay?" Danny tugged Steve away while Tommy just chuckled, and both cops made their way over to Bridget who was no longer bothering to hide her smile, grinning widely at them.

"Well, you guys look like you took my advice," Bridget stood up, hugging them both before sitting back down. At Steve's questioning look, Bridget elaborated. "At getting that New Year's Eve kiss in. You've got a little…" Bridget pointed at her neck and Steve flushed almost immediately. He'd completely forgotten about the hickey Danny had sucked into his neck that night, and while it had faded a good amount, it was still visible to those looking for it. "Uh…yea, it was – it was good," Steve shifted uncomfortably, looking at Danny, who gave a resigned sigh.

"Yes, Bridget, okay? Yes. We had dinner at the hotel, we had a snowball fight in the park on the water, and we shared a New Year's Eve kiss at midnight; there, you have been brought up to speed, may we order drinks now?"

"Looks like that's not all you did."

It was Danny's turn to blush and he hid his face behind his hands. "I thought you were supposed to be better than Stella, huh? I thought I was your favorite out of the entire family!"

"You are my favorite, Danny, and that's why I have a vested interest in you and Steve here," Bridget grinned.

"Can we, uh… you know," Steve cleared his throat, sharing a look with Danny and lowering his voice, "we're kinda just getting a handle on this, Bridge; can we maybe not talk about this right now? In public?"

The woman held up her hands and, like Danny often did, mimed zipping her mouth shut. "Mom wants to know if you want her to bring you guys anymore food before you leave on Friday."

The conversation carried on from there with a server coming by to get them a round of drinks and appetizers. Danny encouraged Steve to get the full rack of ribs while he settled for a Philly cheese steak. Bridget, surprising her brother, went with a surf and turf. "I thought you were trying to eat less meat?" he asked. "I am, but I haven't had a steak in a while and it's a New York strip – pretty lean, so," she shrugged.

They carried on, trading stories over beers and stuffed mozzarella sticks until their food came out. "Hey, by the owner himself," Danny stood up, clapping an older gentleman who was in his sixties on his shoulders before giving him a tight hug. "Manny, how you been, man?"

"I been good, I been good, here," Manny put the steak sub down at Danny's place setting and the ribs in front of Steve, whose eyes widened as he stared at the platter. "This is one rack?!"

"Manny makes enough for leftovers, babe," Danny grinned down at him, an arm still slung around the restaurant owner's shoulders as another server put Bridget's dinner in front of her. "Those ribs cold? Excellent midnight snack."

"I feed enough of the Newark Police Department to know what the guys like, especially on the late shifts," Manny grinned down at Danny, who was a good three inches shorter than he was. "This boy here, been feeding him since he first came into my place when he was ten. His family, good stock. Good parents. Good kids."

"A ten-year-old Danny Williams shoving a Philly cheese steak in his face," Steve hooted with laughter. "I wish there were pictures of that."

"I'm pretty sure Mom actually has a few," Bridget supplied helpfully. Danny tossed her an annoyed look as he sat back down.

"You let me know when you're ready for more, eh?" Manny patted Danny on the shoulder and headed back to the kitchen, leaving the trio to start in on their meal. Danny took a bite of his sub and practically slumped over his plate, a low groan emanating from deep in his chest. Steve almost dropped the rib he'd been holding; he'd heard that groan before, but it hadn't been during dinner, and there definitely hadn't been a sub in his mouth. He didn't miss Bridget shaking her head and grinning as she started in on her lobster tail. "Uh, Danny?"

"Uh-huh?"

"You okay there?"

"Oh yea, babe," Danny's head was still bent over, his voice muffled, "it's just so good. I miss this place so much." And Steve could tell he really did; the food, the friends, the culture, his family, the history, all of it as Danny continued to savor each and every bite, cheese and steak and onions dropping onto his plate as he did.

"How're the ribs?" Bridget wiped her mouth with a napkin, and then laughed when Steve pulled a heavily sauced rib away from his lips, leaving BBQ all over his chin and upper lip, and handed him a napkin from the dispenser. He offered a sheepish grin as he wiped his face. "They're pretty amazing; definitely can't find this back in Hawaii," he conceded. Danny's face was lit with a million-watt smile at that admission, though he looked something like a chipmunk with his mouth full of steak and cheese.

The three of them talked about Danny's kids, and Bridget's children, about how they were fairing with Bridget's decision to separate from Ted. "Just make sure they see him as often as they can," Danny offered, "and don't move to Hawaii," he added on, chuckling.

"It's not like Ted left me for someone else," Bridget noted, "it's more like he became focused on some _thing_ else, and we just…" she sighed, "we just kind of fell apart after that. But he's always, always been a fantastic father. I'll never take that away from him." She took a bite of her steak and chewed thoughtfully for a few minutes. "When he was home, he was always with them, he couldn't get enough time with them," she smiled at Danny. "He's a lot like you, actually."

"Speaking of Grace and Charlie," she lifted her eyebrows a bit, "when are you going to bring them back out here?"

"I gotta ask Rachel," Danny had finished half of his sub and was taking a breather, though he had allowed Steve to take some of the steak and cheese which had dropped on the plate while he was eating, but that was it – he'd actually smacked the man's hand when he'd tried to reach for more, and had turned down the rib Steve offered in fair trade.

"Why not the summer?" Steve suddenly asked, looking at Danny. "You get them for a few weeks in the summer, Rachel took them for both Christmas and New Year's - seems only fair, right?"

"Summer's a hell of a time to leave work for a week babe," Danny pointed out. "The height of the tourist season, crime always goes up, the heat of that volcanic sand box makes people do crazy things," he looked at Bridget. "Seriously. It does. Leaving Five-0 a man down before August might not be the best idea, you know?"

"What do you mean? We'd both come," Steve looked at him. "You, me, Gracie, Charlie – all four of us."

Bridget grinned, taking in Danny's stunned face. "Wow, Steve," she chuckled quietly, "Danny's speechless. I don't think that's ever happened before." She nudged her brother with a fork. "Sounds like a good idea, Danny. Come back out here over the summer, maybe a week or two before Labor Day? Let the kids see each other? We can get a house down by the shore for the week."

"That would be fun," Danny nodded slowly, "we can talk about it, see what Rachel's plans are for the summer…" he picked up the other half of his sub and took a bite, removing his ability to talk for a little bit while Steve and Bridget shared a look over his head.

Danny swallowed. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?" Bridget tugged out a piece of lobster meat.

"Don't look at each other with secret faces," Danny grumbled. Steve snickered as he bit into his rib. "Secret faces? Danny, what the hell?"

"I know the two of you, you both have faces, and you both think you're subtle, but you're not. You're making secret faces."

"Well they can't be that secret if you know about them," Bridget chucked a piece of steak at her brother, who simply picked it up and added it into his sub.

"Real mature, Bridge."

"More mature than secret faces, definitely."

**Hawaii Five-0**

Steve watched Danny shrug his coat off and toss it on the couch along with his scarf. His partner had been quiet for most of the car ride back from Manny's, and Steve had a feeling he knew why. "Did I overstep?" he asked quietly, watching Danny carefully as he turned towards him.

"Did you overstep? Overstep when?"

"With suggesting we all come back here during the summer," Steve's hands were on his hips, his shoulders were tense. "I didn't – I don't know if it's a good idea, honestly, but I could see how much you miss home, Danny, you know? This whole week I've seen it." Steve ran one of his hands through his hair, taking a breath while Danny walked towards him, hands in his pockets, a kind look on his face.

"You didn't overstep, Steve," Danny shook his head. "That's uh…" He pursed his lips together. "You know we've had a hell of a week, and we've talked about a lot of stuff, uh… how we move forward, how and what we tell everyone including the kids, lots of insecurities, we've slept together-"

"Lots," Steve grinned a little.

"Yes, lots," Danny chuckled, shaking his head. "But for whatever reason, when you mentioned possibly coming back to Jersey with Grace and Charlie… I don' t know, it's like _that's_ the moment when this all became real, and not that everything else wasn't or that I didn't realize what we were doing and talking about and deciding on this week – I mean, I've had your dick in my mouth at one point, babe," he laughed and Steve hung his head, a flush spreading over the back of his neck, and he was gratified to see that Danny's fair skin had a rather reddish hue to it as well. "But you suggesting for us to come back here on a family vacation, a real family vacation so that my son and my daughter can visit more family that they don't get to see nearly enough… I," Danny swallowed, his voice tight, "Steve, that's everything to me, you know?"

"Yea, Danny, I know," Steve reached for his partner and gathered him into a hug. "I was afraid I'd gone too fast or something, that maybe you weren't ready for the kids to go on a vacation with us that quick."

Danny hooted against his chest. "So let me get this straight: You didn't think sleeping together this week was too fast, but you thought waiting eight months to go on vacation with me and the kids might have been the moment where we should pump the breaks?"

"I told you, sex with you never scared me, Danny, once I got up the nerve to admit that that's what I wanted, but those kids?" Steve shook his head. "They scare the hell out of me. I never want to mess up with them, you know? And there's a lot of ways that I could and honestly, if you really thought that us all taking a vacation together next summer was moving too fast, then I'd understand."

Danny tugged on his partner, pulling him over to the sofa and sitting them both down. "I get it, Steve, believe me. When the nurses first handed Grace to me after Rachel gave birth? I'd never been so terrified in my life, okay? I mean, I was a cop, I carried a gun for a reason, and Newark wasn't the best of cities back when I was walking the beat, and when I made detective, I saw how bad it could really get, but none of that scared me as much as when Grace looked up at me that very first time, because it was the first time I was really afraid that I wouldn't measure up."

"I don't understand how you could have ever thought that, Danny," Steve leaned his arm on the back of the couch, settling in for what was promising to be an in-depth conversation. "From the first moment I met you, I knew how devoted to her you were – you moved away from everything you knew just so that you could spend four lousy days with her a month, I mean, God… Danny, do you know how much I wish my father would have just come to visit me once while I was at Annapolis?" Steve wished he could hide the pain in his face, disguise the hurt in his voice, but he couldn't. "You are the absolute best father I've ever known, Danny, so it just doesn't make sense to me when you tell me you were scared when Grace was born."

"Aw, babe," Danny shuffled a little closer to Steve. "When you're a parent, you're scared every single day for your kids. There's not a second that goes by that, at the very least in the back of my mind, I'm not wondering if Grace and Charlie are happy, if they're healthy, if they're safe. And maybe I do it more just because my general outlook on the chances of good things happening in my life is like, a negative ten –" Steve laughed, and Danny grinned right along with him; it was true after all, "but the way you are right now, Steve? Not wanting to do the wrong thing, worrying over whether a vacation with all four of us might be too soon, wanting to do right by them each and every single time? That's normal. And I'm really, really glad that's how you're thinking about this."

"Yea?"

Danny smiled softly. "Yea. Like I said: welcome to parenthood, babe." But he could still tell something was bothering Steve. He stroked a finger up the forearm that his partner was resting on the back of the sofa. "What else is going on in that head of yours?" When Steve didn't answer right away, Danny settled in to wait him out. He had a feeling he knew the real root of the issue here, but he also knew he couldn't hammer it out of the other man; Steve had to tell him himself.

Steve ran his free hand down his face before he started plucking at the cushion with it. "I just… I hope I'm not like either of my parents with the kids, Danno, that's all."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, I wasn't joking when I said I wished my father would have come to visit me once while I was at the academy." Steve couldn't bother to hide the still thin but present layer of bitterness to his voice. That would never not hurt, even though he'd made peace with his father's death and many of the issues they'd had. "I don't ever want to treat Grace and Charlie the way my father treated me, or have there even be a shred of possibility that I'd do anything remotely resembling to them what Doris did to me and Mary-"

"Stop, Steve," Danny held up a hand when he saw his partner moving to protest, "no, stop it. Okay, one, I know you well enough, I've seen you with my daughter, with my son, and I know, one hundred percent, that you would never, ever treat them the way you were treated, okay? And two, if I ever thought for even a second that you would fake your death, then return and leave again while spouting a constant stream of lies and false promises, not only would you not be in my kids' lives, but you would not be in _my_ life either." He reached a hand out and tugged Steve towards him by his shirt until he was nearly nose to nose with the SEAL. "You aren't John McGarrett. You aren't Doris McGarrett. You are Steven McGarrett, and you are a hell of a SEAL and a cop," Danny swallowed, "and my kids and I love you very, very much. Okay?"

There wasn't much Steve could say to that – physically, he simply didn't have the ability to speak for a few moments. Finally, when he worked the lump out of his throat, he leaned forward to rest his face against Danny's, murmuring an answer.

"Okay, Danno. Okay."

**Hawaii Five-0**

The last full day in New Jersey saw Steve and Danny heading across the Hudson back into New York City for some extra presents for their ohana back home. "The New Year's sales will still be on, so we can hit some places, get some little things for the kids, and – wait," Danny paused for a moment as he stepped out into Times Square from the subway, getting his thoughts straight, "for the kids as in my kids, and then the kids as in Tani and Junior."

"That's gonna get confusing," Steve nodded, looking around. "Where to first?"

"We can stop by the Disney Store for something for Charlie. Grace like's Express, so maybe I can get her a new purse or something from there. We can get some little nick knacks down at the NBC Store for everyone else?" Danny lifted a brow and Steve nodded, and they both set off for the Express store nearby. Danny didn't spend more than ten minutes before he picked out a small, black clutch purse for his daughter with a gold zipper and lining. "That's nice, Danno," Steve whistled low, checking out the price tag. "Thank God it's on sale."

"I told you I have a good sense of style," Danny dug out his credit card as his phone went off. "Hey, Ma!"

_"Hi honey! Daddy and I wanted to know if you and Steve wanted some company for dinner tonight? We'd come to you."_

"Uh, yea sure," Danny looked up at Steve. "Dinner with the folks tonight? They come to the hotel?" At Steve's nod, Danny spoke into the phone again. "Yea, sure, Ma. 6:00pm okay?"

_"That's perfect. Okay Danny, I love you, we'll see you then!"_

"Where do you wanna go for dinner tonight, babe?" Danny slid the phone back in his pocket just as he was stepping up to the counter.

"Some place where there's food?" Steve shrugged. "I don't know, what's good around Newark?"

"Sal's Steakhouse then," Danny slid his card through the machine and signed for the purchase before he took the bag.

"You trying to get me fat? I could hardly wake up this morning after eating what we did at Manny's," Steve followed him out the door and down the street towards the Disney Store. "I don't even want to think about all the swimming and running I'm gonna have to do when we get back home."

"Think of it as a cheat week, Steve; you don't even give yourself cheat days. You deserve this, okay? And it's not like we've even eaten that badly since we've been here," Danny held out a hand and counted off: "We had dinner at my Ma's twice, we had steak and seafood New Year's Eve night, we had left overs New Year's night, ate at Manny's last night, and we're gonna eat at Sal's tonight, and you know the best part?" Danny turned a corner and saw the Disney Store just up ahead. "The best part is that all but one of those meals was like eating at home; the hotel restaurant not so much, but Manny and Sal? All locally sourced food, all made like their mama's made it for them back when they were kids – from scratch."

"When you put it like that it doesn't sound so bad," Steve admitted, crossing the street with Danny to get to the store. "Geez, Danny this place is huge!"

"Not FAO Schwartz, but it'll do," Danny moved immediately over to the _Star Wars_ collection and began perusing.

"Hey Danno, why not get him this?" Danny looked over to see Steve standing by puzzle sets of various _Star Wars_ ships and vehicles. He bent down and picked up one of the Millennium Falcon boxes. "This could be a project you and he do together," he offered it to his partner and Danny looked it over. "Could be a project all three of us work on too." Danny didn't miss the grin Steve got at his suggestion; that sealed it.

"I'll buy this one since you got Gracie the purse." Steve took the box back from him and headed up to the checkout counter, Danny trailing behind. "Sharing purchases," the blonde sucked a bit between his teeth, making a loud smacking sound. "Guess it's official."

"I think we made it pretty official before now, Danno," Steve snickered as Danny's face reddened. That would never not be entertaining.

They continued their walk around the city, picking up souvenirs and trinkets here and there, though for Nahele, Steve dropped by the Sketchers on 45th Avenue to browse. "He's been talking about starting to run with me, but he only has slippahs, some beat up old tennis shoes, and the ones he wears to work," Steve explained, stopping by a pair of high-performance running shoes and sizing them up. "I might get myself a pair of these."

"They look nice," Danny commented – and only commented. He had no desire what so ever to buy running shoes because he hated running, despised it. After finding a sales man and getting shoes in Nahele's size and his, Steve sat down to try them on, giving them an easy try out by running in place once he was laced up. "These feel awesome," he groaned. "I almost don't want to take them off."

"So don't," Danny picked up his old shoes and tucked them into the box. "All they need is the box anyways to scan it. You can keep them on and break them in while we walk around." That idea seemed to give Steve no end of happiness, and he gathered Nahele's shoe box to him, along with Charlie's gift, and headed up to the register with Danny in tow.

"It's gonna be a lot of fun taking all this stuff back with us on the train," Danny exited the store and banked right, heading for the metro after taking a glance at his phone. "Almost 4:00pm, babe."

"Yea, and we still need to pack. Getting this stuff into our suitcases, that's what's going to be the fun part – hey, maybe we should buy an extra piece of luggage or something?"

"Not a bad idea, actually, but let's do that in Newark. There's gotta be a Walmart or something close by the hotel. The only place really within walking distance that I'd be willing to head to at this point is Tumi's, and as good as your idea is, I'm not spending $600.00 on a carry on."

Steve winced. "Yea. No, that's not happening."

It wasn't long before they were on the train heading back to Newark. Danny thought they made a pretty ridiculous picture: Both he and Steve, commandeering one booth each to hold not only themselves, but their purchases. At least the train wasn't packed, but still. At one point about half way through the ride, Steve dumped all of his items next to or on top of Danny to snap a picture. "I think I'm gonna frame this one," he smiled, holding his phone up so that Danny could see his clearly unamused expression as he drowned in package after bag after parcel. "Hilarious," he grumbled. When Steve reached to ruffle his hair, Danny practically jerked away. "Hey, hey, hey! Watch the hair." Steve pouted, but only a bit, and carefully extracted some of the bags off of Danny to bring back to his booth.

They got back to the room with a little over an hour to spare before Danny's parents arrived. "Hey, I saw some duffle bags down in the gift shop," Steve dropped the gifts on the floor of the living room. "And, I have an idea of what we can get them to say thank you."

"Yes, to the duffels in the gift shop, and what's your idea?" Danny was undressing as quickly as he could while listening to Steve, but when he didn't hear his partner continue, Danny turned to find the SEAL staring rather openly. "Oh, no, not now babe, we can't," Danny grabbed the nearest thing to him, which happened to be the bag Grace's purse was in and held it in front of him both to block Steve's view and to shield the fact that maybe Danny liked being watched while he stripped.

"Uh, yea," Steve shook himself, "I was thinking we could get your mom and dad a voucher to use here on Valentine's Day weekend? Lots of hotels have packages and stuff for those kinds of special holidays – the Friday and Saturday before Valentine's Day; sound good?"

"Yea," Danny turned, forgetting that he had nothing on his backside and nearly jumped when Steve whistled appreciatively as he bent down and rooted around for his pants, digging out his wallet from a pocket once he found them. "One night on me, one night on you?"

"Perfect. Take a shower – Danny, _please_ for the love of God get in the bathroom and take a shower right now or I will not be held responsible for what I do," Steve pleaded. Danny grinned; he was liking this side of Steve, and decided to himself that he was going to have to play with that a bit more. He headed into the bathroom tossing the bag back into the bedroom and hearing a tortured groan from the other man before the door to the suite shut audibly behind him.

**Hawaii Five-0**

Sal's Steakhouse turned out to be another restaurant where the Williams family was well known. While Sal himself wasn't in that evening, plenty of staff members remembered Danny and were elated to see Eddie and Clara Williams too. "Ma and Pop took a little break from the social scene a few years ago," Danny whispered to Steve as his parents chatted with the manager and two servers. "Everyone knew us – I mean, everybody knows everybody were we come from, but you know, everybody knew our family and when word got out about Matty, they just didn't want to have to answer a bunch of questions over and over again."

Steve only nodded, offering a hand on Danny's wrist and a brief squeeze in comfort. "I get it, Danno." He looked over at Eddie and Clara, who were now chatting animatedly with someone Steve guessed Eddie knew from the fire house. "I'm glad they got their lives back after that."

"Yea, me too," Danny took a sip of water, watching his parents over the rim. "I can't imagine them having to deal with Matty's death if they'd been split up, you know?" He swallowed hard at that, thinking how close his parents had come to divorce, and he felt a hand on his shoulder and knew it was Steve, grounding him as he always did. "The whole menu's good, babe," Danny pointed to the one laying at Steve's place setting and opened up his own as his parents turned back to the table. "I'll pick up the tab tonight since you got dinner on New Year's Eve."

"Danny, honey, we can pay for ourselves-"

"Ma," Danny held up a hand, "I got it. Get what you want, alright? Same to you, Pop."

In the end, Clara settled on a steak salad, Eddie chose a filet mignon, Steve stuck with his tried and true surf and turf, though with crab instead of lobster this time, and Danny went for the prime rib, his love of loves. Clara opened her mouth to protest but Eddie beat her to it. "Clara, if you get on the boy about his cholesterol in front of me, I'll trade the filet in for what Danny's having," Eddie gripped his wife's hand and kissed it. "Steve."

Steve looked up. "Yes, Sir?"

"Join me at the bar for a minute. If it's your first time here, everyone has to have the bar experience." Eddie got up and left the table, clearly expecting Steve to follow. Steve lifted a brow at Danny who only shrugged in return and nodded his head, encouraging him to follow. "I guess I'm gonna go have the bar experience," Steve stood up, placing his napkin on the table. "Be right back." Danny watched him go before turning his gaze on his mother, who was suspiciously quiet.

"'The bar experience', Ma?"

"He just wants to talk to Steve over a drink, honey, it's nothing to be worried about."

Danny wasn't worried per say, but he was a little irritated at Steve getting the 'what are your intentions towards my son talk' from his father; the only other person to get one of those talks had been Rachel, and Clara had been the one to give it to her. Still, he settled into his seat and a conversation with his mother, every so often flicking his eyes over to where Steve and Eddie were sitting, hunched over the oak wood of the bar while the bartender mixed both men a drink; probably a scotch and coke, if he knew his father.

*H*5*0

"I'm not even going to pretend to understand what's going on between you and my kid," Eddie swirled his scotch around carefully, staring into the tiny whirlpool. "Two guys, in our business, first responders, cops, military, you know how it goes."

"Yes, Sir," It didn't show on his face, but Steve was too nervous to so much as touch the drink Eddie had bought for him, but after this conversation, he was going to revert to his active Navy SEAL days and pound the thing the first chance he got.

"Usually it's Clara giving these kinds of talks for the boys, but… well," Eddie took a sip of his scotch and squared his shoulders, taking a breath. It helped to see that Danny's father was just as jumpy about this conversation as Steve was. Truth be told, he'd never had to have this conversation with anyone's father before. "What are you and Danny planning with this, huh? I am right, Clara and me, we are correct that something's going on?"

Steve looked around, appreciating that Eddie was keeping his voice low. "Yea, there's something going on," he answered, pushing his rocks glass around gently on the bar and taking a breath. "Truthfully, Sir, we're acting on feelings that have been simmering beneath the surface for a long time. When we came on this trip, we decided that we wanted to really talk about it, see if there was anything there, if it could work, and we found that there was something there we'd like to pursue." There, that didn't sound too bad.

"Look, son," Eddie sighed, "I'm not gonna stand in the way of anything you and Danny do, okay; I love my kids, all of them. Sometimes I question their choices and I worry about the consequences of their actions, but by and large…" He took another sip of his scotch and danced his finger around the rim of his glass. "I just want to know that Danny is going to be okay with you, that my grandkids are going to be okay with you. I know what you guys get up to in Hawaii, I know you're a former Navy SEAL, I know you've gotten into some trouble yourself, and you had to have some pretty high connections to get Danny out of Columbia the way you did a few years ago. I may only be a retired fire chief from Newark, New Jersey, but lots of my friends over the years wore badges from the U.S. Marshalls, and the FBI, the Coast Guard… you get the picture."

Steve nodded.

"Some of the stuff Danny's told me is… is pretty fantastic," Eddie chuckled, "pretty unbelievable, the kind of stuff you only see on cop sitcoms. And if he's gotten into those situations just as your work partner, I can only imagine what kind of trouble he's going to find if you two start something that's a little more than work partners."

"Sir-"

"Eddie," Danny's father nodded at him. "You're uh… you're seeing my son now, I guess. You can call me Eddie."

"Okay… Eddie," Steve tried it out in his mouth, but it still felt strange. "Uh, first, yes, Five-0 gets involved in some pretty dangerous cases. It's the nature of our work, and I know that Danny will say I sometimes drive him crazy or that I'm trying to kill him with the way I drive or stuff like that, but I really, really love and care about Danny so much. I think I love him more than I've ever loved anyone in my life – that includes my parents, my sister, the woman I was going to ask to marry me… everyone. Maybe the only two people that beat him out are Grace and Charlie." Steve stared down into his drink for a moment, gathering some much-needed courage. "I wish I could promise you that everything will be smooth sailing in our lives, but the truth is that whether Danny and I pursue this or not, with the cases we deal with in Five-0 and some of the enemies we've made because of it, the only thing I can promise is that I'm going to do everything within my power to protect Danny and his kids."

"You understand my concern with this?" Eddie pierced him with the same eyes Danny had, and Steve found himself responding almost exactly the same way he would if it were his partner looking at him like that. "I don't – like I said at the beginning, two guys getting together to knock boots, especially in our business? When I was coming up, that was something that just wasn't done, and if it was done, it wasn't something anybody openly talked about. But this is Danny's choice and I respect that. But Danny's also the only son I got left, and I need to know that he's going to be okay, that you're going to take care of him and be there with him for anything it is that he deals with, whether it's work, or fighting with Rachel, anything." Eddie leveled his gaze at Steve. "Do you understand what I'm saying, son?"

"Yea," Steve took a breath, "yes, I do. I'll be there for all of it with him, anything that comes his way, I'll be there with him, for him. You have my word."

"Good, now," Eddie held up his glass, motioning for Steve to do the same, "let's take a drink to that."

"Thank God," Steve clinked his glass with Eddie's and took the scotch in one swallow, following Eddie back to the table afterwards and sitting down beside Danny while Eddie took his seat next to Clara. Danny leaned over, having seen Steve pound the drink. "Everything okay?"

"Yea, everything's good," Steve nodded at him reassuringly. "Promise."

**Hawaii Five-0**

"So, what did my dad drag you over to the bar to talk about?" Danny tugged his shirt off and tossed it next to his suit case. The prospect of packing was not an appealing task at the moment, but he had no choice. It was past 9:00pm and he and Steve had to be up at four the next morning to catch the plane back to Hawaii. Needless to say, the next 24 hours were going to be very long. He caught sight of his partner entering the bedroom and watched him begin the process of sorting and folding every piece of clothing with military precision.

"It was the 'intentions' talk," Steve stopped for a minute and looked up at Danny, scratching the side of his face. "He wanted to know what we were doing, where we were at, if I was serious about you, about keeping you and the kids safe."

"What'd you say?"

"What'd I say?" Steve shook his head. "I told him I planned on pushing you in front of traffic, Danny, what do you think I said?"

"I mean, that sounds like something you would do; I'm actually surprised you haven't done it yet, considering all the times I've come within a hairsbreadth of being ejected from the passenger seat thanks to your constant need to re-enact every scene from all eight _Fast and Furious movies_."

Steve's face pinched. "You're hilarious." He folded and packed in silence until Danny stopped his own organizing – such as it was, shoving clothes into his suitcase where ever they would fit. "I'm teasing, babe. Come on, you know that."

"I do," Steve nodded, "I just didn't like having to give him the answer I did."

Danny quirked a brow.

"I told him I'd do everything in my power to protect you and the kids but with the kinds of cases we catch and the people we wind up running into because of it…" A heavy sigh escaped him, and he leaned on his clothes for a moment. "I couldn't guarantee that nothing would happen to you, and it's not just because of Five-0, it's also because of me and all of the shit that follows me."

Danny could hear the tone of second guessing in Steve's voice. "You know that's going to happen no matter if we follow through with this relationship or not, right?" His voice was gentle, even though his heart was in his throat. Now that he was finally sure that this thing between them could work, it was Steve having second thoughts, because of course. "Eventually people will figure it out, Steve. As good as we are at keeping things quiet, as good as you are at hiding your feelings, eventually, someone who wants to hurt us is going to figure it out."

Steve looked up at him and Danny sucked in a breath; the pain in the other man's eyes was palpable, but it was more so at the realization that Steve knew Danny was right. "I'm not willing to stop this just because of that, Steve." He met his partner's pointed look with one of his own.

"Neither am I," Steve stood up straight, walking around to the other side of the room where Danny stood. "But your dad's scared, Danny. Not about us being together but about what that might mean for you and your kids, his grand kids. I don't want to be the reason he loses another son, and I don't wa-" he swallowed, steeling himself before speaking again, "I don't want to be the reason something happens to you or you get hurt or – or worse. You or Grace or Charlie – hell, even Rachel; I know she's your ex-wife but she's still their mother and if anything were to happen to her because of me or my work, our work, that'd be… any of that I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself for."

"Then let's start by understanding that if anything were to happen to us, that it would not be your fault-"

"Danny…"

"Shut up," Danny muttered, "shut up and listen to me, Steven. Let's pretend for a second that people are responsible for their own decisions. It doesn't matter what you did in the past, what secret agent missions you went on for the Navy, what you've done with Five-0, because you were doing your job, okay? And you were doing your job to make bad people stop hurting good people. I do the same thing every day, alright? Remember who Reyes went after? Me. Because of something my brother did. It had nothing to do with you, it didn't even really have anything to do with me – it was Matty that screwed up, and he paid the price. I dragged you into that. You and Chin, I put you guys in danger, and I regret it every day. Every single time Matty's anniversary comes up, I think about that, and I remember everything about Columbia – including you figuring out a way to get me out."

"We can't predict what's gonna happen, babe, we can't," Danny swallowed, "I wish we could. It'd make everything a hell of a lot easier, we could protect the kids a lot better. But we can't. And I love my dad, but honestly, Steven, it's my mother you should be afraid of, okay?" That got a laugh out of the SEAL and he leaned in to wrap Danny in a tight hug. "You finally convince me to give us a try and here you are trying to get out of it," Danny grumbled against his shoulder. Steve just held him tighter.

"Not trying to get out of it, Danno. Just want to make sure we can keep it going as long as possible." He pressed a kiss into Danny's hair.

"Alright," Danny pulled away after a few more moments, "we gotta pack, seriously. We have to be up in six hours and I'm already not happy about that – what are you doing?" Steve was shuffling closer to him reaching for his hips. "Steve, no, we have to pack."

"Packing won't take long, Danny." The grin on Steve's face was purely devilish, his fingers making grabby movements as Danny continued to back away. "Plus, you told me earlier I had to wait until later – it's later."

"Ste-!" Quite ungracefully, Danny backed right into the bed and lost his balance falling on top of it, his clothes, and other items that needed to be stowed away in his suitcase. All of that would have to wait however; Steve crawled on top of him, pressing a hot kiss to his mouth, and Danny couldn't very well argue with that. It was a complete frontal assault on Steve's part and a total surrender on Danny's. This was the way it was going to be from here on out, Danny knew. They may have gone about it the long way to the tune of a few years, but here they were, making out like teenagers on top of rumpled, dirty clothing and bedding, preparing to head back home to start a new chapter of their lives together. Finally. Danny snickered and let his head fall back on the bed, feeling Steve pause above him. "What's funny?"

"Nothing," Danny shook his head, lifting it and giving Steve a gentle peck on his mouth. "Nothing at all."

"Told you we could make it work," Steve smirked down at him, eyes promising the devil himself in bed.

"That you did, babe. That you did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help but take the boys back into New York City for a day of souvenir shopping. I also wanted to provide a moment with Eddie and Steve having a discussion about Steve and Danny's new relationship. I think there would be some very specific concerns Eddie would have and that's due to a variety of factors: his age, his occupation, Steve and Danny's jobs and what the consequences of a case might mean for them or Grace and Charlie. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter; I believe I've got one more in me before I bid this story adieu :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We wanted you guys to be the first to know, uh…” Steve scratched a shy hand on the back of his neck. “Danny and I are seeing each other.”
> 
> There were a few moments of silence as the news sank in. “Are you serious?” Tani finally asked, looking between Steve and Danny. “You guys, you’re really an item?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Author’s Note_ : And so we’ve reached the end, my friends. I’m actually really, really happy that I followed through on the requests I received to keep this story going. I genuinely enjoyed writing this fic, and I’m now looking forward to churning out some one shots that can deal with the massive amount of drama and feels the H50 Writers have handed us with Joe White’s death and Grace’s near-fatal car accident. I watched 9.12 and I have to say that Scott Caan and Claire Van Der Boom’s performances were absolutely stellar and very, very worthy of an Emmy nod.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story, who has given me kudos, left me comments here and via Twitter (Banshi13 if you’d like to follow), as the encouragement I received from so many of you kept my motivation high to see this story through to the end. With that said, enjoy this final chapter!
> 
> _Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-0, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work._

**Hawaii Five-0**

Steve presented Danny with coffee and donuts and sat down next to him in the waiting area. The airport was quiet, but at 5:30am on a Friday, soon enough it would be bustling with passengers and employees, and families who were coming to greet or say good bye to friends and loved ones. "Thank God," Danny took his coffee and a donut out of the box. "They're going to start boarding in five minutes."

"They should let you take that on the flight," Steve pointed to the coffee in Danny's hand. "I bought inside the secure zone, so."

"It'll be gone in ten minutes, babe." Danny didn't appear to be lying. As hot as the stuff was, he'd already taken two long sips which had taken the large cup down by a third at least, and that was even with eating the donut. "I'm gonna miss New York coffee, but, I gotta say, the Kona you buy is pretty good too. I'm even looking forward to having a cup with a malasada when we get home."

"Are you really?" Steve lifted a hand to Danny's forehead, and the latter batted it away. "I'm just making sure you haven't caught swine flu or something Danny. That's like, in the top five nicest things list you've ever said about Hawaii."

"Well," Danny swallowed the rest of the donut and reached for another one, "I'm a guy, you know? When I eat good food, I admit it." He leaned back, letting out a quiet breath. "This was a good trip, Steve."

"Yea, it was."

"I kinda wish we didn't have to go back."

"What, and miss Grace and Charlie getting home tomorrow?" But Steve understood what Danny was saying as he put down his coffee on the seat to his left and stretched his right arm on the seat behind Danny's head. "We won't be cut off from everything when we get home, but we'll figure it out."

"Mhmm, I've been thinking a little about that," Danny leaned his head back on Steve's arm a bit. "Putting the kids on the conference call with the governor and Lou showing them the ropes while we were gone?"

"Yea?"

"Maybe we should start doing a little more of that even if we're home?" Danny rolled his head to the side to look at him. "We're 43. We're gonna have to think about retiring soon, you know? Start putting plans in motion, start getting Tani and Junior trained up, maybe hire a new recruit or two a year or so from now so they can get their feet wet while we're still there?"

Steve was nodding quietly as he listened to him. "Why do you think I've been getting Junior involved in the budgeting?"

"Because I whined until you did?" Danny grinned at him.

"Well, that too," Steve couldn't really discount that. "But more so because we're not going to be there forever, right? Someone's got to know what we know, they have to be able to do the administrative stuff that we do on top of the field work. I love being a cop and I'm not ready to retire now, but in five years? I may think about it, you know?"

"Five – five _years_?" Danny stuttered.

"Well you don't have wait for me, Danny, you can retire or start cutting back if you want."

"Oh I can?" Danny stood up as the boarding announcement for their flight was called. "Because I seem to remember you losing your mind in the middle of the jungle at the very thought of me packing it in."

"That's because back then we weren't always going to be together," Steve shrugged, picking up the duffle bag and slinging it over his shoulders as he followed Danny over to the boarding kiosk. "I would've still been working, you would've been gone. But now we're together. You know?" Danny gave him a dubious look.

"It doesn't mean that I won't miss having you at work, or that I won't miss you being my partner – honestly, Danny, if you retire before five years? I might consider retiring then too because I can't imagine anyone else as my partner at Five-0, and I don't want to either." Steve nudged him and handed the attendant his pass, Danny following his lead. They both headed onto the gangway and once they were on the plane and Danny settled into his seat while Steve stowed the duffle bag in the overhead compartment. "You figured out how you're going to tell the kids yet?"

"I think I'm gonna tell them separately," Danny watched as Steve settled next to him, "you know, since their age difference is so big? Charlie will be easy, so I'll tell him last. Grace'll have questions."

"And I'll be there with you to answer them." Steve gave Danny a resolute nod as other passengers began to file on board, and they both settled in for the long day ahead of them.

**Hawaii Five-0**

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." Tani grinned watching Steve and Danny enter the bull pin. "Aloha, Happy New Year and all that." Adam emerged from his office, surprised. "How was your trip? What are you guys doing here? You're not due back until Monday."

"Oh, don't worry, we're not staying long, we just uh… where is everyone?" Danny looked at Tani. "Lou, Junior, Jerry?"

"Jerry's down in his office, Lou and Junior are on their way back from the hospital."

"The girl?" Steve asked. Tani nodded. "Yea, she was finally able to answer some questions today about being attacked by that guy's wife. They called in about ten minutes ago letting us know they were leaving, so they shouldn't be much longer."

A ten-minute wait proved her right as Lou and Junior walked in the door. While Adam called Jerry up, Lou caught Steve up on the goings on while he and Danny had been in Jersey.

"Alright, well," Steve folded his hands together once everyone was assembled around the table. "I wasn't really sure how to tell you guys this, and there's no real easy way to say it. It's been a good run, I think, you know the last nine years have been really solid, and I really, really believe that this is going to be a change that's going to be good for everybody-"

"McGarrett," Lou held up a hand, "if you tell me that you're leaving me to deal with Williams by myself, trust and believe me when I tell you, I quit here and now."

"Hey, at least I wouldn't be driving your car into fleeing Chinese agents, Grover, okay? Your wife would be very grateful to have me at the helm of Five-0," Danny snickered, but stole a glance at Steve. "Babe, go on and tell 'em, huh?"

"We wanted you guys to be the first to know, uh…" Steve scratched a shy hand on the back of his neck. "Danny and I are seeing each other."

There were a few moments of silence as the news sank in. "Are you serious?" Tani finally asked, looking between Steve and Danny. "You guys, you're really an item?"

"Yea, we're really an item," Danny leaned on the console, arms folded. "We used the trip to New Jersey to uh, to talk about some things and we decided that this is something we wanted, so." He rolled his lips together, looking at everyone.

"Congrats, guys," Jerry was first to clap his hand on Steve's shoulder. "That's really awesome, guy love. I never would have guessed it but I'm happy for you."

"Are you blind?" Lou looked at him, disbelief all over his face. "These two have more fights than couples on Maury, man."

"Well, I'm down in my office most of the time so…" Jerry shrugged.

Once hugs and congratulations had been given all around, Steve leaned against the table. "We don't want this to change anything at work, that's number one. We're still gonna continue to be partners, we're still going to be the same Five-0 we've always been. Neither of us want anything to change that."

"You do realize that working together in the kind of job we have though puts some extra risk on the table for you two?" Lou looked at both of them. "Look, I'm happy for you both, I want nothing but the best for you, but have you considered that maybe the best thing in this situation might be not working so closely together anymore? For your own protection? The kind of stuff we come across and deal with on a daily basis, ya'll know this isn't a normal job."

"Yea, we do, Lou." Danny nodded quietly. "We do, but Steve and I, we've been partners for nine years, and I know I've felt this way about him for the last two or three, and there have been some pretty bad things that have happened in that span of time, but neither of us ever lost our cool."

"We know we're asking for a lot of trust with this," Steve leaned against the table beside Danny. "Neither of us are going to do anything that endangers any of you, okay? But if we need to talk about making some adjustments here and there maybe to make you guys more comfortable in the field, then we can have those conversations. We just… really, at the end of the day, we just want your support is all."

"You have it, Sir," Junior gave him a firm nod, Tani doing the same. "We're happy for you guys," she smiled. "Just remember that even though the break room has a lock on the door, we all have to share that space?"

"Uh…" Steve swallowed, "I don't think you're going to have to worry about that."

"Yea, even when he and Catherine dated, they didn't do anything here." Danny smiled, but caught a nervous flicker in Steve's eyes. Danny frowned, looking up at him. "What?"

"N-nothing. Nothing at all."

Danny's eyes narrowed considerably. "Steven…"

"…Adam! You good with this?" Steve moved over to the other man, putting some distance between himself and Danny, who was calling his name. "Hey, hey, Casanova, don't hide behind him, get back here." Adam, for his part, stepped well out of the way of the SEAL, pulling out his cellphone. "That's my queue to text Chin and tell him the good news," he smiled, giving Steve a hug. "I'm happy for you both, but you don't pay me enough to be your shield against him." He pointed over at Danny.

"But I pay you enough to dodge bullets all day?!" Steve was incredulous, watching Adam high tail it out of the bullpen and back to the safety of his office, phone to his ear. He was still working out how that made sense when Lou walked up to him, beckoning him over to the side a little with a nod. "I wasn't trying to rain on your parade, Steve."

"I know, Lou, I know." Steve nodded, looking over at Danny who was in an animated conversation with Tani, Junior, and Jerry. "We know what we're in for with this, what the risks are. I asked Danny before we left for New Jersey if we could talk about us and it just came down to we were tired of brushing it aside and acting like there was nothing there."

"You don't gotta explain anything to me, Steve," Lou smiled at him, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I can't say that I'm shocked by it. It always seemed to me that you guys had a little bit more than a bromance goin' on but it wasn't my business so I never said anything. And if something ever does happen to either of you because you've decided to take this step, just know we have your back all the way. Okay?"

"Thanks, Lou," Steve stepped into the hug Lou offered, clapping his back a few times before stepping back. "We got some little souvenirs for all of you while we were in New York, but the bag's in the Camaro."

"Give 'em to us Monday," Lou grinned. "Danny tell Rachel and the kids yet?"

"We talked to Rachel, yea, gave her the heads up a few days ago. We'll grab the kids this weekend and tell them then, so I'd appreciate it if you keep this quiet around Will until then since he and Grace talk?"

Lou waved him off. "No problem. I figure you guys are gonna want to keep this on the downlow anyway."

"Thanks, man."

"Hey, babe," Hearing his nick-name, Steve looked over at Danny. "Dinner out tonight with everybody?"

"Definitely. Beats cooking anything after that flight," Steve actually yawned as Danny walked over to him. "Aw, the baby SEAL is tired."

"Yea, well, the baby SEAL wasn't tired last night, was he."

Lou held up his hands. "And that's my queue. I'll see if Renee wants to come out tonight but even if she doesn't, I'll try and swing by for a little bit." Danny watched as Lou headed over to the kids and Jerry before looking at Steve. "You really had to say that?"

"Say what?" Steve looked at him.

"You know what, the thing about the baby?"

"Well they know now, I think they're going to figure out pretty soon that we sleep together, Danny."

"Yea, but they don't need details!" Danny's cheeks were growing red; Steve found it oddly endearing. "You're so cute when you blush, Danno," Steve teased.

"I'll show you cute," the blonde grumbled, waving a goodbye at everyone while taking Steve by the arm. "Tropics, 7:00pm!" A chorus of 'see you there's' and 'Aloha's' answered him back as he led Steve out of the office and to the elevator. "I'll drop you by your place and then head home. I need a nap," Danny punched the button to bring the elevator up.

"Your place?" Steve didn't bother to hide his slightly put out expression. "Why not just stay at mine?"

"Because, Steve," Danny said as they stepped into the elevator and rode down. "I will not nap if I do that. We will be doing other things if I stay at your house and if we're going out to Tropics for a few hours tonight, I need a few hours of good, quality sleep." He smiled, patting Steve on the back. "You can survive without me for that long, right?"

Steve could, but he didn't look happy about it. He'd gotten used to having Danny next to him in bed, had become accustomed to waking up to holding him or being held, even after only a week. "I wanna go back to New Jersey," he grumbled petulantly, a sour look on his face. Danny just laughed as they exited the elevator and headed out to the parking lot, getting into the Camaro.

"A few hours, babe. We can do it."

Steve pouted.

**Hawaii Five-0**

Tropics was packed, even if it was the first Friday night after the New Year, and both Steve and Danny were grateful to Tani for calling ahead and getting their normal table on the patio with more than enough room for anyone who was going to drop by. It turned out that not only had the team made it, but Noelani, Kamekona, Flippa, and Nahele had all managed to carve out some time for the impromptu celebration dinner. The table was covered in every food imaginable – steak, shrimp, lobster, burgers, salads, along with plenty of appetizers and, of course, drinks all around. Kamekona was currently in the process of making a toast, one which had garnered more than a few chuckles around the table. Steve and Danny sat next to each other, Danny content with a beer in his left hand while resting his chin on his right. Steve sat with his arms folded, a grin on his face.

"I don' know how it works with two ke kanaka," Kamekona shook his head, "the bathroom – that's gonna be a constant disaster area."

"Oh my God," Noelani groaned, covering a face with her hands and shaking her head while Nahele yucked it up beside her.

"We always used to joke about you two bein' married, but now that it's not a joke anymore, the only thing I can say to you both is Makani 'Olu a Holo Malie; loaa ke aloha." He raised a glass and those around him did the same, cheering each other's drink in agreement. Danny leaned towards Steve. "What'd he say?"

"He said, 'fair winds and flowing seas' and 'to finding love'," Steve clinked his beer against Danny's, sharing a quiet smile with him before taking a long pull from his Longboard. "You wanna hand out the gifts now?" Danny looked at him, tapping the duffle bag with his toe.

"Yea, alright," Steve stood up. "So, when Danny and I were in Jersey, we went into New York City a couple of times and we brought you all a little something back, just some little souvenirs and stuff like that." He bent down and picked up the bag, plopping it on his seat, and began to pull things out one by one. "For Noelani, a _Tonight Show_ mug – since you like that show so much," he passed it down the line to her.

"For Tani and Junior, matching hoodies for when you work out, go to the gym."

"Work out," Danny quoted his fingers in the air to himself, but it wasn't missed by Lou or Adam, who snickered quietly behind their hands.

"For Lou," Steve dug out a glass beer mug, "a Molly's mug from your favorite show, _Chicago Fire_."

"There we go, that's what I'm talkin' about," Lou reached over and took the mug out of his hands, immediately pouring the rest of his beer into it. "A little bit of home in the palm of your hand."

"Adam, we hit Rockefeller Center and got you a pint glass," Steve handed it to him, "here you are. Enjoy." Following Lou's lead, Adam poured the rest of his drink into the glass. Danny frowned a bit at both of them. "You should really wash those before you drink out of them, okay? You don't know where they've been."

"Nothing that the alcohol can't handle, Danny," Lou took a large sip of beer and smiled at the other man who simply rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine, but I'm not driving you to the hospital tonight when you get hit with some weird viral infection."

"Exactly what do you think happened to those glasses between the plane ride, the duffel bag, and then being in my house, Danny?" Steve looked at him incredulously, pausing in his gift giving.

"Well, okay, the plane ride, let's start there," Danny sat up, sufficiently riled. "The plane ride, where dozens and dozens of other people, like 300 people, rode with us? Each of them having at least one piece of luggage, probably two, each coming from different parts of the country and the world? Who knows what they got into in Timbuktu or wherever they were."

Steve mouthed 'Timbuktu' to the others but kept his mouth shut as Danny kept talking. "Yes, the gifts were in a duffel bag, and yes, the duffel bag was your carry on, but then, you go back to those glasses actually being in the store and God knows who picking them up and holding them, passing them around, wondering if they're gonna buy them, and then setting them back down on the shelf again?" Danny shook his head. "It's not sanitary. That's inviting death, babe."

"And here I thought you were working on your optimism," Steve shook his head. "Kamekona, Flippah, here are your _Ninja Warrior_ t-shirts." He passed the clothing over to the two guys.

"We considered _Hell's Kitchen_ , but that store was a little further than we wanted to walk," Danny shrugged at them both.

" _Ninja Warrior_ beats _Hell's Kitchen_ any day, brah," Flippah stretched the shirt out, looking it over. "This one might be a bit big for me."

"You serious?" Danny blinked at him.

"Nahele, come here," Steve gestured over to the younger man to make his way over beside him. "You mentioned you wanted to start running with me, so I picked these up for you." Steve handed the kid the shoe box. "Go on, try 'em on," he urged, seeing Nahele's surprised face. And slightly nervous face. Steve grinned as Nahele's eyes darted towards Danny.

"Here?"

"Yea, here, come on," Steve tugged the now empty duffle bag off of the chair, "sit down, try them on."

Slipping out of his flip flops, Nahele tugged on first one shoe, then the second one and stood up, bouncing on his toes a little bit to try them out. "They feel great, Steve; thank you."

"You're welcome. And now that you're here, you can ask Danny that question you've been wanting to ask him."

Danny's eyebrows lifted slightly in interest. "Question? What question?"

If it were possible, Nahele actually paled. "N-nothing, Mr. Williams." He turned back and leaned down to pick up his flip flops, tossing Steve a dirty look while he did. Steve, of course, thought the entire thing hilarious. "He's not gonna do anything to you, Nahele, and I'm right here! Come on, ask him, just like we practiced."

"Steven." Danny lifted a finger and quirked it in a 'come hither' motion, but Steve waved him off, and instead nudged Nahele forward. "What's he talking about?" Danny watched Nahele take several breaths and gather his nerve before he stuttered out his question… such as it was.

"Uh, Mr. Williams, I was wondering if – if uh, if Grace isn't doing anything this weekend – or, or next weekend, if she's busy this weekend that's fine, I understand, uh," Nahele swallowed, "you know, work, school-"

"She's on winter break right now," Danny narrowed his eyes, fixing Nahele with a glare only an over protective bear of a father could, "she's not in school, she's on winter break."

"…Right," the kid licked his lips and took another breath. Steve patted his shoulder. "Well, whenever she's free, I was wondering if I – if I c-could uh, take… take her out on a date?" Nahele rushed ahead before Danny could so much as part his lips to answer. "I'd pay for everything, of course, and it wouldn't be anything too crazy. Just um, uh probably dinner on the beach? I'd pay for the Uber, the dinner, dessert, everything-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay," Danny took a breath. "Okay, uh…" he squinted a little, bit his lip, cocked his head to the side. "Yea, uh, go away… now, for a minute. Steven, you come here." Nahele couldn't get out of there fast enough; Danny was absolutely certain he saw smoke rising from the pavement as the younger man practically fell over himself and Lou and Adam to get away, new sneakers and all.

"Well," Steve sat down next to his partner, "that could've been worse."

"You knew about this?" Danny leveled a glare at the other man. "You knew he wanted to ask out Grace, this is the first I hear about it?"

"C'mon, Danny - Nahele had to ask you himself, he wanted to do that. He didn't want me to warn you or anything. He thought you'd appreciate it more that way," Steve took a sip of his beer. Danny grumbled.

"Well, I don't. Nope, I don't appreciate it."

"Are you pouting right now?" Steve rolled his eyes while Danny continued to glare at him. "Nahele's a good kid, Danny, and you know he'd treat Gracie the way she deserves to be treated. Plus, if anyone ever tried to get fresh with her, he'd knock their sorry ass into next week, assuming she didn't do it first."

"Do you forget how you two met, huh?" The hands were beginning to move and Steve knew a rant was imminent. "He stole your car, Steve."

"Yea, to sell it for parts so that he could put food on his own table, Danny, c'mon!" Steve loved Danny, but sometimes his over protective nature over his kids, especially Grace, made him short sighted. "And for the record, I stole a car when I was his age too, but I got a second chance to make something of my life, and so did Nahele, and look at him. Right? He's working hard, he's gonna work at the restaurant with Kamekona."

Danny released a hard, loud breath through his nose and crossed his arms. Yep, pouting. Pouting but… "I'll be right back."

"Just don't scare him away tonight, okay? I want to be able to say goodbye to him, not chase him down the beach because he's trying to get away from you."

"I wouldn't be chasing him down the beach at all if you hadn't told him to ask me if it was okay to ask Grace out; why'd you tell him to do that tonight, anyways?"

Steve shrugged. "You were in as good a mood as you were going to be."

"And yet." Danny huffed and got up, making his way through the patio towards Nahele, who visibly gulped when he saw him coming. But Danny gave him credit – he stood up like a man and looked him in the eye.

Kind of. Best as the kid could while fidgeting and looking around for the nearest exit, just in case, of course.

Okay, so maybe Danny felt just a little bit bad about that. "Look, I uh…you know, I am very, very protective of Grace, right?"

Nahele nodded.

"She's had to deal with some stuff in her life, some of it because of me and her mother, and some of it – lots of it, actually, because of my job, and what comes with it, and uh…" God, Danny hated this. He knew it showed on his face, in his posture, and he didn't bother to hide it either. "Look, you wanna ask Grace out, you have my permission, okay? Steve trusts you, he's kind of looked out for you over the last few years, he seems to think she'd be safe with you, so if you wanna ask her out, you have my blessing."

"Thank you, Mr. Williams," Nahele practically stumbled over himself in his response. "I- I promise, you won't have anything to worry about."

"Well that's good, that's good to hear, and I'm gonna tell you why," Danny lifted an arm and squeezed it around Nahele's shoulder. The sight would've been comical to anyone watching, what with Danny's height and Nahele's sudden realization that he was much like a critter caught in the binds of a python. "It's good because if my daughter turns up pregnant, or comes home crying because of you, or tells me that you so much as didn't open a door for her, I don't care what Steve's SEAL skills are – they got nothing on a pissed off father looking out for his baby girl."

"Ye-yes, yes, Sir. I understand." Nahele gulped. Audibly. Danny let him go.

"Great. Nice shoes, by the way; Steve got a pair himself so you two would match." With that, Danny clapped Nahele on the back and ambled back on over to his partner, his partner who, Danny noticed, was looking at him with a hint of disapproval. "What?" Danny looked at him, all innocence and naivety. "He's alive, see? Look over there. He's alive, he's walking, all of his blood is still inside of his body-"

"Then why does it look like he'd rather be dumped in the middle of the ocean and left for the sharks than ask Grace out?" Steve watched as Danny picked up his beer and sat down, a serene smile on his face.

"He looks fine to me."

Steve shook his head. "You're ridiculous."

" _You're_ ridiculous, thinking that right now was a good time to tell him to come up to me and ask for my permission to take my daughter out, okay? That's the most ridiculous idea you've ever had. Ever."

**Hawaii Five-0**

"It's because we're home, isn't it?" Steve looked across his bed at Danny with his hands on his hips, watching his partner who mirrored his position right down to the nervous grin on his face. "It's not a hotel bed in a hotel room in a city thousands of miles away."

"This is your bed in your house in Hawaii," Danny breathed and ran a hand along the slatted head board of Steve's bed, keenly aware that the man's eyes were watching and cataloging his every move. Well. No point in waiting. Danny was exhausted and wired all at once, but he absolutely refused to be intimidated by yet another symbol that reinforced the realness of the decision he and Steve were making. He tugged back the sheets and slid in between them, getting comfortable and looking up at his partner as if to say, 'well?'

The man didn't disappoint. Stripping off his shirt and leaving his pajama bottoms on, Steve followed Danny's lead and was soon lying on his side next to his partner. He nosed at Danny's shoulder. "Still weird?"

"Yes and no," Danny rolled on his side to face Steve, tucking a hand underneath his pillow. "Weird in the sense that it's just another new thing for us, sleeping in your bed. It'll probably be the same when we spend the night at my place."

"We do have a lot of places to 'sleep'."

"You're an idiot," but Danny laughed at Steve waggling his eyebrows comically. This side of Steve was quickly becoming his favorite side; the flirtatious, cheap jokes always accompanied with a wide, goofy smile, the lightness with which Steve looked at him, the fact that Steve seemed to radiate pure joy at just having Danny next to him. It was enough to get love drunk on. The detective reached behind him to shut off the lamp. Steve did the same.

"When did you first know about us, huh?" Danny asked quietly.

"You mean when did I first figure out I felt something more for you than friendship?"

Danny nodded. Steve took a breath.

"I think I've been falling in love with you by degrees for a while now, Danny, but I guess if I had to pick the one moment where it knocked me over the head, it was probably the night Grace's school dance got jacked."

"Why?"

"Because from the second Lou called us and told us what was happening to the moment when it was all over and I had Grace in my arms and saw you standing behind her, all I could think about was the both of you." The truth was plain as day on Steve's face; even in the dark, Danny could see it. He shuffled over the mattress a little closer to Steve until he was lying maybe half a foot from him.

"All I could think about," Steve continued, "was how scared she must have been, her and Will, but mostly her. I don't think I'd have ever forgiven myself if something had happened to her that night, Danno."

"She was amazing, Steve," Danny smiled, "a lot calmer than I was, that's for sure."

"Because she's your daughter, Danny." Steve smiled blindingly at him. "When it was all over and I saw the both of you, I'd never felt relief like that in my life. If I had to pick the moment, I think that'd be it." He repositioned his head a bit, tugged the sheets up closer to him. "You?"

"When you helped me with Charlie's room." Danny's answer was quick, automatic. Steve wasn't surprised. Danny had always been able to pin point his feelings, right down to the moment they made themselves known. "And when Charlie told me that you had said that I'd done the whole thing by myself – the room and the bed and everything, I just knew. My son looks at you like you hang the god damn moon, Steve. You could have at least taken credit for the bed, gotten yourself some cool uncle points, but you didn't. You wanted my kid to see me as a hero, you know?" Danny reached out, wrapping his fingers around Steve's neck and tugging the man closer while he, himself, slid towards him too. "That's everything to me."

Steve went willingly, a soft growl escaping his lips as he rose up to hover over Danny before dropping a kiss against his mouth. When his partner's fingers tightened just that little bit in reaction around his throat, Steve huffed out a breath and pressed another kiss, harder and full of need against Danny's soft lips, pushing him into the mattress. "Danny," Steve's lips moved against the blonde's, "Danny, your hand…"

"What?" The man beneath him was genuinely confused. "My hand what?" When all Steve could do was stare back at him with glittering eyes, Danny moved his fingers against Steve's neck again, and, God Steve's reaction to that was _erotic_. There was no other word for it. His eyes fluttered shut, his neck arched in the most pleasing way, a low moan emanated from his chest through his lips. His hips jerked forward, a hard line making itself known against Danny's leg. "You like my hand there, huh?" A slow, crafty grin spread on Danny's face as he reached his other hand behind his head to grip at one of the slats in the headboard. Steve made a soft, whimpering noise as he watched, eyes wide and dark.

"You said we had a lot of places to 'sleep', babe; why don't we start with your bed, huh?"

Steve practically attacking his mouth was the last coherent memory Danny had for the rest of the night.

**Hawaii Five-0**

Saturday was spent with the boys going between Steve and Danny's houses. After managing to wake up and stretch some pleasantly sore muscles, breakfast was quickly made and then the unpacking and post vacation cleaning began. Junior dropped Eddie by around noon and the dog was yipping and jumping for a solid 15 minutes, happy whimpers echoing through the house as his tail beat against Steve's legs. "Ready to go over to Danny's buddy? Yea?"

Danny groaned. "Why."

"He hasn't seen me in a week, Danny, he wants to reconnect." And really, with two sets of puppy dog eyes looking at him, how could Danny refuse?

The Williams' house was a bit more involved. After not being there for a week, Danny needed to go to the grocery store and restock the fridge for himself and the kids, throw in loads of laundry that he didn't do before he'd left, which included linens from all of the beds and the bathroom towels. While he did that, Steve cranked the lawn mower up and ran it through the front and back yards, all while Eddie enjoyed rolling around in the grass Steve hadn't run the mower over yet.

"I figure we stay here tonight since we gotta go see the kids tomorrow?" Danny sprinkled salt, pepper, oregano, and a variety of other spices and herbs into the sauce he was making later that afternoon. "You need anything from your place?"

Steve's voice came from the living room. "I still have some clothes over here."

"Yea, I know, I just washed two pairs of cargo pants and countless blue and black t-shirts," Danny snickered. "I got an extra toothbrush you can have."

"Did I leave any dog food over here?" Steve came into the kitchen, Eddie eagerly on his heels. "Could have sworn I left some here a while ago."

"There's two cans of Merrick in the pantry – beef, I think." Danny stirred the sauce a little as Steve rooted around in the food cupboard and produced a can of dog food. "Hey, hey, what are – no, what you doing?" Danny watched as Steve got out a breakfast bowl, opened up the can, and poured the meat mixture into it, setting it down in front of Eddie who began eagerly chomping it up. "That is a bowl meant for human beings, Steve, not dogs, okay? My kids eat out of that bowl."

"Well what do you want me to do, Danny; you want me to put it all over the floor and have him lick it up?" Steve walked over to the sink, rinsed the can, and tossed it in the garbage. Danny stared at him.

"I have a recycling bin, you hater of the Earth you."

Steve blinked a few times, then walked over to the trash can and plucked the can out. "Where, oh where is your recycling bin, Prince Daniel?"

"Garage," Danny shook his head. "Caveman. Your owner is a caveman, Eddie; I thought with you around he'd at least graduate to the medieval era. You've been slouching, pup."

Eddie licked his chops, giving Danny a 'who me?' look before returning to chowing down on his food.

"Alright, your highness," Steve popped back into the kitchen, closing the door to the garage behind him. "The can is in the bin."

"You know, for all the lecturing you give me about how beautiful this place is and how we need to preserve nature, you not asking where the recycling bin is kinda weird."

"Oh yea?" Steve washed his hands in the sink and dried them off. "Well, I think what's weird is you having a recycling bin in the first place, Mr. I-Love-Concrete-And-Skyscrapers."

"Didn't hear you complaining about either one of those while we were in Jersey," Danny moved past him and reached into a cupboard behind Steve, grabbing a pot and filling it with water. "There are spaghetti noodles in the pantry; grab 'em for me, eh?" Steve did as he was asked and handed the box over to Danny, who set it on the counter for future use.

"Have you talked to the kids at all? They back yet?"

"Rachel texted me about an hour ago while you were out mowing the lawn and said that she and the kids had landed." He moved over to the stove with the pot of water and set it on one of the heating coils. "She's gonna get them settled and said we can come over whenever tomorrow to talk to them. I told her breakfast?"

"Sounds good," Steve opened up the box of noodles and took one out, cracking it in half and putting it between his teeth to chew on before heading back into the pantry and coming back out with a bottle of boysenberry syrup in his hands. Danny looked from the bottle to his partner. "I know Hawaii doesn't really know how to do food, but even out here, they can't possibly substitute boysenberry syrup for old fashioned Italian red sauce."

"No, we do not. However, some people from Jersey that I know put this disgusting form of syrup on their pancakes."

"Oh, oh okay," Danny laughed.

"So, when we go over to Rachel's, that'll be sitting out here and we won't forget it." Steve shrugged, watching Danny for a few minutes. "I thought we were gonna tell them here."

"Yea, but then Rachel suggested breakfast and that's everyone's favorite meal of the day, and I was thinking that it might be good to have Rachel on hand to talk to Grace if she has a freak out and doesn't want to talk to me," Danny hauled himself up on the prep island, letting his legs dangle free. "I don't think she will, but she might want some time to absorb everything and uh, just have some time to herself without having me around, so." Steve stood in front of him, arms crossed.

"You're still nervous about this."

"Yea," Danny breathed, rubbing his hands together. "I am. You know there's a reason I was really careful about introducing her to anyone I dated when she was younger. I needed to make sure that if she got attached that that person was going to stick around, and that the relationship was solid."

"I'm sticking around. We're solid." Steve gave him a soft smile.

"Yea, I know, but uh… Grace has known you for half her life and she's seen a lot of stuff, Steve, with her mother and me, and her mother Stan, and then Gabby and Melissa. You mean more to her than Stan or the other women did, and I am really, really lucky to have such a grounded kid, but she's had a lot of change in her 17 years, babe. I gotta make sure that she feels stable, and secure, that she knows that this is a good thing and that the relationship she has with you isn't going to change – no matter what." Danny looked carefully at Steve. " _No matter what_ , Steve; got it?"

"I got it, Danno," Steve wedged himself between Danny's legs, gently resting his hands on the man's hips and leaning his forehead against his partner's, breathing in their mingled scents for a few quiet moments. "There's not gonna be a 'no matter what'. I promise. I'm going to make sure of that."

"You are, are you?"

"Yep," Steve let the 'p' pop off of his lips before giving Danny a sweet, gentle kiss. "We both are. We're gonna be okay, Danny. I promise. We're gonna be okay."

**Hawaii Five-0**

"Danno!"

There was nothing like a seven-year-old child bum-rushing you as soon as you walked into the house, and Charlie didn't disappoint. "We went to England! We saw Big Ben and lots of statues and castles!"

"You did?!" Danny scooped his son up and hugged him tightly. "Your sister sent me a picture of you two at midnight on New Year's Eve, what'd you guys do for New Year's Eve, huh?"

"We went to this huge ferris wheel and watched the fireworks with everyone else. There were so many people!" Charlie's smile was as big as Danny had ever seen it, and his irritation at Rachel having taken his kids across the pond for the holidays, and it being Charlie's first-time visiting Britain without him there to experience that with his child, receded just a little bit. "Well that does sound like a good time. Guess who else is here to see you, huh?"

"Uncle Steve?" If possible, Charlie's eyes brightened just a little bit more, but Danny didn't mind; in fact, he loved that. "Yep, Uncle Steve."

"Where is he?"

"Right here, buddy," Steve came into the living room of Rachel's house, an arm slung around Grace's shoulder. Charlie scrambled down from Danny's arms and raced across the room to Steve, who picked him up with one arm, hugging both kids tightly to him. "I wanna see loads of pictures, you two. I haven't been to England in a few years, so let's see all the places you visited."

As Steve occupied himself with the kids, Danny ambled his way into Rachel's kitchen. The woman was standing by the prep island, a cup of tea in her hands with two mugs of coffee sitting in front of her. "I took the liberty of making yours up," Rachel pushed a mug towards him, which Danny picked up and sipped. "I take it you still don't like sugar in your coffee."

"You take correctly," Danny gave her a grateful smile. "Looks like they got enough sleep, they're not jet lagged."

"Charlie isn't, Grace and I are another story," Rachel sipped her tea. "We finally arrived home just before seven last evening. Charlie of course went straight to bed but both Grace and I were up until after midnight."

"Oh good, so you get to deal with her tomorrow morning when she has to wake up to go back to school, that's excellent," Danny gave her a smile. "Thanks for takin' one for the team."

"Of course, I decided to come back on a weekend where I had the children to spare you the displeasure of dealing with our daughter's shall we say negative disposition her first day back in class," Rachel rolled her eyes. "Shall I start breakfast, then?"

"I'm not gonna stop you. Steve came hungry."

While Danny and Rachel made idle, mostly comfortable conversation with each other, they could hear the kids catching Steve up on everything they did while they were in England, and they were still doing so 45 minutes later when Rachel called everyone in while Danny was setting the table. "I think we'll tell Grace first, if you want to take Charlie upstairs or something after we finish eating?" Danny watched Rachel plate the last of the pancakes on a platter, and she nodded her head. "He still has a bit of unpacking to do – and by a bit, I mean quite a lot." She put a package of bacon on a plate and shoved it into the microwave. "If you three don't come in here, Danny is going to eat all of the bacon, and I'll not stop him either." A knowing smile crossed her face when Grace slid into the kitchen and took a seat at the table. Steve followed not far behind, Charlie dangling upside down from his arms.

Breakfast was a loud affair. Charlie insisted on continuing the story of his first trip to Great Britain with his Uncle Steve, who listened as if there were no one else in the room he'd rather pay more attention to, at least until Rachel reminded Charlie that he still had clothing and presents to put away. "Tuck in, Charlie," she told him, looking across the table at Danny and giving a little nod of her head. Even after separation and divorce, they could still communicate with subtle gestures like that.

"Speaking of presents, we have a couple of gifts for the kids out in the car for after breakfast," Steve looked at Grace. "I told Danny not to buy you the power tool set, but he insisted." That earned him an eyeroll and a giggle from the girl.

"Alright, Charlie," Rachel stood up, "take your plate to the sink and let's get upstairs and finish up, hmm?"

"But I'm not done telling Uncle Steve about the ferris wheel!"

"S'all right, buddy, I'll be down here when you're finished," Steve brushed a hand over his hair and urged him out of his seat. "Go with your mom, okay?" The boy showed his reluctance, but he went in the end, as everyone knew he would… which left Danny decidedly shifty. Grace picked up on it almost immediately.

"What's wrong, Danno?" She gave him an odd look with a tilted face. "Did you hurt yourself while I was gone?"

"Uh… no, no, I didn't hurt myself, Monkey," Danny rubbed his hands together and cleared his throat, pushing his plate away; suddenly the idea of food didn't exactly appeal to him. Grace was his everything – if she didn't approve of this, it was all downhill from there. "Look, uh, Mom took Charlie upstairs because I wanted to talk to you about something."

Grace cast a glance Steve's way.

"With Uncle Steve here, too," Danny added in. "What I need to talk to you about also involves him."

Grace took a breath. "You're not leaving, are you?" She looked between Steve and Danny before setting her sights on the former once again. "I thought you were in the reserves and you didn't do that SEAL stuff anymore?"

"No, Gracie, I'm not leaving," Steve got up and moved seats instantly, taking the one next to Grace and wrapping an arm around her. "I'm not leaving, I promise." He looked over at Danny, raising his eyebrows, and the blonde took a deep breath.

"Listen, uh… look, Grace," Danny took another breath and then forced his hands to the table, pressing them against the wood as if to make them stay there. "While Uncle Steve and I were in New Jersey, we used that time to see your grandparents and your Aunts' Bridget and Stella, and we went into New York City a couple of times, but we also had a lot of really long, serious conversations with each other."

"About what?"

Danny swallowed, licked his lips, cleared his throat again. "About us, Gracie. About me and Steve and uh…and what we want and if – if there was the possibility of us being maybe more than friends."

Steve curled his arm around Grace's shoulders a little more, feeling her tense just a touch at the news – surprise, more than likely, but just in case. "I know you're probably shocked," Steve's soft voice floated through the room, "probably as shocked as Danno and I were when we figured out how it was we were feeling about each other."

"Feeling about each other…" Grace took a breath, "like romantically?"

"Yea, Grace. Yea. Romantically." Danny caught the sympathetic look Steve sent his way, and in that moment, he didn't give a damn if he looked like a frightened rabbit ready to scamper away. Call him Peter Cottontail, he'd cop to it. The silence hung above them all. Danny actually started to crack. "Grace, if you're not okay with this, you can tell me." The words felt like tacks in his mouth. He hated saying every single one of them, but as he looked at Steve, he knew the other man was on the same page.

"No," Grace breathed, then rushed ahead when she saw her father's face fall, "no, no, no! I mean, no, I'm okay with it, it's just – it's… surprising."

Danny's shoulders slumped, audibly taking some deep breaths to sooth his nerves. Grace looked at Steve, who immediately removed his arm from her shoulders and gave her nudge. "Go," he smiled. She was up, out of her chair, and at Danny's side within seconds, actually attempting to climb in his lap as if she were still six years old. "It's okay, Danno," she wrapped her arms around his neck as he held her tightly. "Does Mom know?"

"Yea, Monkey, Mom knows," Danny leaned back a little to look at his daughter quietly. "We told her when you guys were visiting her parents." Grace's eyes narrowed. "The night she told me to go get Charlie ready for bed?"

"Yep."

"Why didn't you just tell me over the phone?"

"Because I felt it was better to tell you in person, you know, if you had questions for me or if you wanted to ask Steve anything – though I'd keep the words and sentences short if you really need to question him," Danny grinned at Steve's eye roll. "All those bumps to the head, sometimes he has a hard time following along, you know what I mean?" Grace laughed, and if that wasn't the best sound in the world, Danny didn't know what was.

"So, are you guys serious?"

"Yea," Steve nodded, maintaining his seat for the moment. "We're serious."

"As in…?"

"As in I think your Dad's it for me," Steve's smile was for both father and daughter. "I hope I'm it for him too."

"Jury's out," Danny muttered, receiving a love tap on his shoulder and a disapproving look cloaked in amusement from Grace. "That's mean, Danno."

"Jury's in," he amended quickly. "Yea, Gracie it's… this is kind of it for us, for each other. It's taken us a few years to get our heads out of the sand, to figure out what we wanted, if we wanted this, but we have and I'm really, really glad that you're okay with it."

"Would you guys not be together if I wasn't okay with it?"

Danny hedged. Steve saved him. "It would definitely make it a lot harder," Steve answered her directly. "The one thing I know about Danno is that you and Charlie are his top priorities, even above me, and that's okay. That's how it should be. That's how it needs to be, otherwise nothing works – not me and him, not you and him, not him and Charlie. If you weren't okay with this, or if you had some really good concerns that we hadn't thought about… well," Steve rubbed a hand over his mouth, "we'd have to think about that before we went any further." He watched her quietly, carefully, cocked his head to the side. He could feel her holding something back, he just wasn't sure what it was. "You sure you're okay with this? You have no questions, no concerns? Because it's okay if you do, Grace. That's why we're talking to you first, alone, without Charlie, so that you can ask."

Danny hugged her gently around her waist. "What's up, Monkey?" He nosed at her arm a bit until she looked down at him.

"You and Mom didn't work out," she said quietly. Danny nodded; no argument there. "And you broke up with Gabby, and Melissa left." Grace looked over at Steve as if she were trying to figure something out. "You and Aunt Catherine didn't last even though you'd been dating each other for forever, and then you broke up with Lynn…" Both Steve and Danny waited her out, choosing not to press her as she worked through her own thoughts. "I mean, was that – did you guys not work out with your girlfriends because you two… you know?"

"That's a uh… that's a very good question," Steve cleared his throat. It really was. "I'm not sure how to answer that, really. Danny?" When in doubt, deflect to the father, though it didn't really appear as if Danny appreciated that strategy as he sent an annoyed glare his partner's way. "Speaking for myself," he said, placing some emphasis on the word 'myself' – Steve was not getting out of these questions, no matter how much of a chicken shit he wanted to be – "I can say the answer is definitely no with Gabby. With Gabby, you were so young, Grace, and you really liked her, you know?" Grace nodded.

"And when Gabby kept telling me that she was getting job offers all over the world for months at a time, I was really happy for her, but I also watched you with her, and you were getting attached to her," Danny continued, "and I had to make a decision. I had to make a decision that was rooted in what was best for you, and that decision was to break up with Gabby and let her go have her career without being tied down to me."

"But you really liked her, Danno, I remember you did." Bless his daughter, but it wasn't a lie.

"I did, Gracie. I liked Gabby a lot, but the thing is, is that you were becoming so attached to her that I didn't want you getting caught up in her having to be away so much and what that would inevitably do to my relationship with her," Danny gave Grace a small smile. "So, I put a stop to it before it ever got that far." That seemed to placate Grace, who voiced another question. "And what about Melissa?"

"Melissa wanted to get married again, she wanted children of her own, not," Danny hastened to add, "that she didn't care about you and Charlie, but she wanted the full experience of being a mother. I, on the other hand, did not want to get remarried at the time and I was more than happy with the kids I had. So, we talked and we came to the conclusion that she wanted things that I wasn't ready or willing to give her. And that was that."

Grace seemed to accept that as well and turned her gaze on Steve. "What about you and Aunt Catherine?"

Steve coughed, "Uh, well, Cath and I…it – we had um – there were things that kind of made it difficult for us to stay together."

The look on the girl's face made it clear that that was not an acceptable answer, so Steve tried again. "Cath wanted – needed – some things that a relationship couldn't give her. She needed a job where she was invested, where she was absolutely needed, and critical to that job's success, and uh…" God, even after all this time it was still painful, to know that he hadn't been enough for her to stick around. He took a breath. "And she went and she found a job that could give her that, except it wasn't a job that I could or would follow her in."

"Where does she work now?" When she didn't get an answer from Steve, Grace looked at her father.

"That's… that's not something you need to worry about, Grace."

"I'm not worried about it," Grace clarified, "I just want to know." Her response was so much like Danny that Steve couldn't help but grin. "I know you want to know, kiddo but trust me, it's better for you if you don't."

"But-"

"Grace," Danny jostled her a little bit to get her to look at him once more. "It's safer for you if you don't know what Catherine is doing these days. Okay?"

A wary look was on her face as she nodded her head reluctantly. "Okay, Danno." He thanked her quietly, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "So, you're okay with this, right? With me and Steve?"

"Will you guys get married?"

Danny nearly choked. "I don't really know, Grace. We haven't really talked about it; this is still kind of new to us, you know?"

"You guys have been fighting like you're married since you met, so I just figured you'd make it official." Grace shrieked as Danny attacked her stomach with his fingers, tickling her for her snarkiness while Steve just sat back and laughed, watching them.

"I take it from the laughter and the giggles that all is well here?" Rachel appeared, Charlie tagging along behind her.

"Yea, everything's good," Danny hugged Grace to him again, smiling brightly. "Charlie, buddy come here. Uncle Steve and I got something to tell you."

**Hawaii Five-0**

"You sure you don't want to stay the night?" Steve tried one more time to get Danny to stay over, but just like all the other times, Danny shook his head. "Babe, we go back to work tomorrow, and if I stay over at your house tonight, you and I both know we won't be getting any sleep."

"I've gone for 72 hours without sleep before, Danno."

"Yea, when you were 25, Steve – we're in our mid-40's now," Danny pulled into Steve's driveway and put the Camaro in park, turning his body a bit to look at him. "We can figure out nights we spend at each other's places soon, and I promise both me and the kids will spend this weekend at your house. Charlie wants you to teach him to surf, remember?"

"I don't remember you sounding overly thrilled about that," Steve reminded him. Danny simply shrugged. "I have a feeling I'm not going to be thrilled with a lot of what you do, so I'm gonna choose my battles wisely." Steve just laughed as he unbuckled his seatbelt, looking over at Danny as he put his hand on the door handle. "Gonna walk me to the door?"

"No, no I am not going to walk you to the door, because if I walk you to the door, you're going to pull me inside your house and never let me out again."

"…not really seeing the problem with that." Steve opened the door and scooted away, getting out before Danny could take a swipe at him and walked around to the driver's side of the car. Danny rolled the window down. "Be around about 8:00am to pick you up."

"Sounds good," Steve ducked his head down, placing a gentle kiss, then another, and a third one on Danny's mouth before pulling away. "You know I just had a thought."

"What's that?"

"You know how we're arguing about who stays where and what night?"

"Uh-huh."

"We can negate all of that by just moving in together." 

Even in the dark, Danny could see Steve's boyish, mega-watt grin, and he couldn't help but laugh after a few seconds. "Tell you what; you and me, after a year, we'll talk about moving in together."

That seemed to agree with Steve. "I can wait a year for you to move in here."

"Ah, ah, ah, you see I knew you would do that – notice I said, 'move in together' not me and the kids move in here."

"The house is paid off, so that means no mortgage for you and more money for us to put towards Grace and Charlie's college funds, and I have a beach in my backyard, both of your kids love the water, and I have three bedrooms – two for the kids, one for you and me," Steve ticked off all the pluses on his fingers, holding them up and then wiggling them in Danny's face. "No downside, Danno."

"Will you go inside? Please? So that I can go home?" But Danny was grinning like a loon with every word he spoke, and as Steve backed away towards the gate while Danny backed the car out of the drive, both men had smiles so big on their faces it hurt, but neither cared. It had taken them years to finally get to this point, but here they were.

_Slowly but surely_ , Steve thought with a smile as the tail lights of the Camaro faded away. _Slowly but surely_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in 9.12 we got confirmation, or at least it was heavily implied, that Will and Grace are still seeing each other. However, I just _love_ Nahele, and I love the idea of Nahele attempting to ask Danny’s permission to ask Grace out on a date. There’s no reason to even believe that Nahele and Grace know each other all that well, but for whatever reason, the idea of shipping Nahele and Grace is simply adorable to me. So, there you have it.
> 
> I was watching some season 6 and 7 episodes the other day. In the episode where Lou and his family go on the run, Steve mentioned that Danny liked boysenberry syrup on his pancakes, so I tossed that little tid bit of info in here.
> 
> I really did enjoy writing this fluff bucket of a tale. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did creating it!


End file.
